UC-NRL 


276 


RMNj 


4Un 
il 


m  1 


REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

A  BOOK  FOR  TEACHERS 
AND  PARENTS 


BY 

HENRY  C.  KREBS 

SUPERINTENDENT  OP  SCHOOLS,   SOMERSET  COUNTY 

NEW   JERSEY 


WITH  INTRODUCTION  BY 
CALVIN  N.  KENDALL,  LL.D. 

COMMISSIONER  OP  EDUCATION  OF   NEW  JERSEY 


NEW  YORK  AND  CHICAGO 
THE  A.   S.  BARNES  COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT,  IQl6,  BY 
THE  A.  S.  BARNES  COMPANY 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  THE  AIM 1 

II.  THE  TEACHER  AS  INSPIRER 7 

III.  THROUGH  THE  CLASS  RECITATION 13 

IV.  THROUGH  THE  SCHOOL  LIBRARY 18 

V.  THROUGH  THE  PLAYGROUND 27 

VI.  THROUGH  INDUSTRIAL  TRAINING 33 

VII.  THROUGH  SELF-GOVERNMENT 38 

VIII.  THROUGH  THE  PRIVATE  CONVERSATION 46 

IX.  THROUGH  ENCOURAGEMENT 54 

X.  THROUGH  TALKS  BY  THE  TEACHER 63 

XI.  THROUGH  FINE  SENTIMENTS 70 

XII.  THROUGH  SYMPATHY 76 

XIII.  THROUGH  DIRECT  MORAL  INSTRUCTION 85 

XIV.  THROUGH  COMPANIONSHIP 91 

XV.  THROUGH  IDEALS 97 

XVI.  THROUGH  INSTRUCTION  IN  HEALTH 103 

XVII.  THROUGH  REMOVING  FALSE  IDEAS 109 

XVIII.  THROUGH  ALLEGORY 114 

XIX.  THROUGH  TACT 118 

XX.  THROUGH  ENTHUSIASM 123 


355230 


INTRODUCTION 

"TRAIN  up  a  child  in  the  way  he  should  go  and 
when  he  is  old  he  will  not  depart  from  it"  was  said 
long  ago.  This  counsel  is  a  constant  reminder  of  the 
duty  of  teachers  and  parents. 

The  present  century  has  been  aptly  called  the  chil- 
dren's century.  Increasing  reverence  for  childhood 
is  one  of  its  dominant  characteristics.  This  reverence 
is  both  the  cause  and  the  effect  of  a  better  under- 
standing of  children.  Never  before  were  so  many 
earnest  men  and  women  giving  their  best  thought 
and  effort  to  a  study  of  children  as  at  present.  They 
profoundly  realize  that  children  are  the  greatest  of 
the  potential  assets  of  a  community  or  of  a  state. 

The  practice  of  good  schools  and  of  well  ordered 
homes  in  training  children  has  been  modified  as  a 
result  of  the  better  understanding  of  children.  So 
far  as  the  school  is  concerned,  there  is  a  growing 
conviction  that  the  child  does  not  exist  for  the  school 
but  that  the  school  exists  for  the  child;  a  conviction 
that  the  child  has  his  own  way  of  feeling,  thinking, 
and  doing,  which  is  not  the  way  of  men  and  women 
of  forty.  As  Saint  Paul  said,  "When  I  was  a  child, 
I  spake  as  a  child,  I  understood  as  a  child,  I  thought 
as  a  child:  but  when  I  became  a  man  I  put  away 
childish  things."  There  is  also  a  conviction  that  the 
individual  child  is  becoming  more  and  more  the  center 


vi  INTRODUCTION 


of  educational  interest  and  effort,  and  that  his  actual 
present  need,  rather  than  his  probable  future  need, 
should  be  emphasized. 

Bearing  these  considerations  in  mind,  any  well 
thought  out  contribution  to  the  means  that  may  be 
employed  for  the  training  of  children  is  to  be  wel- 
comed, and  Superintendent  Krebs  has  made  such  a 
contribution  in  this  little  book.  The  contribution  is 
a  practical  one.  Mr.  Krebs  for  many  years  has  had 
the  opportunity  of  working  with  teachers,  particu- 
larly with  those  in  the  rural  and  town  schools.  The 
book  is  therefore  the  outgrowth  of  experience  and 
not  the  mere  expression  of  theories.  The  title, 
"Reaching  the  Children,"  is  a  good  one.  To  reach 
them  is  not  easy,  but  to  reach  them  is  essential  if 
educational  processes  are  to  be  effective.  Indeed,  the 
failure  of  some  of  our  educational  activities  in  both 
the  school  and  the  home  may  be  traced  to  a  failure 
to  understand  the  mind  and  the  heart  of  children. 

In  a  series  of  twenty  chapters  Mr.  Krebs  points 
out  for  the  use  of  teachers  and  parents  some  of  the 
ways  of  reaching  children.  No  teacher,  however  in- 
experienced, and  no  mother  or  father,  after  reading 
this  interesting  book  carefully,  will  regard  the  child 
and  the  ways  of  training  him  in  quite  the  same  way 
as  before.  The  contribution  deserves  a  wide  reading 
in  both  the  school  and  the  home,  the  two  institutions 
upon  which  so  much  depends. 

CALVIN  N.  KENDALL, 
Commissioner  of  Education 
April,  1916,  TRENTON,  N.  J. 


REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  AIM 

So  manifold  is  the  opportunity,  so  open  is  the  road  of  the 
higher  success  to  ability,  industry,  and  character,  that  human  life 
may  fairly  be  described  as  a  divine  chance  to  do  and  to  be  that 
which  lies  in  the  imagination  of  youth.  God  does  not  deceive  the 
fresh,  instinctive  faith  of  childhood;  life  does  not  lie  to  those  who 
trust  its  promises.  It  is  commonplace  only  to  those  whose  natures, 
tastes,  and  aims  are  commonplace.  —  HAMILTON  W.  MABIE. 

Scorn  trifles,  lift  your  aims;  do  what  you  are  afraid  to  do. 
Sublimity  of  character  must  come  from  sublimity  of  motive.  — 
MABY  EMERSON. 

WHAT  is  the  chief  purpose  of  the  school?  What 
should  be  the  primary  aim  of  the  teacher?  These 
are  fundamental  questions.  On  their  correct  answer 
depends  the  attitude  of  the  teacher  and  of  parents, 
and  the  attitude  governs  the  results. 

The  central  principle  of  education  is  the  self- 
activity  of  the  child.  To  this  principle  all  others 
are  subservient.  Without  the  self-activity  of  the 
child  little  can  be  accomplished.  There  is  no  reac- 
tion to  the  instruction.  There  is  no  growth,  no 
development. 

In  the  light  of  this  principle  the  purpose  of  the 
school  is  plain.  It  is  to  arouse  the  self -activity  of 


REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 


the  child  and  guide  this  activity  into  right  channels. 
The  aim  of  the  teacher  should  be  to  inspire  the 
pupils,  and  to  the  degree  in  which  she  succeeds  in 
doing  this  is  her  success  measured. 

Proficiency  in  school  work  may  be  secured  by  a 
teacher  who  drives  her  pupils  through  threat  of  pun- 
ishment. This  proficiency  is,  however,  of  little  value 
because  it  is  not  based  on  the  pupil's  self-activity. 
It  is  based  merely  on  the  pupil's  activity,  which 
is  a  totally  different  matter.  Activity  that  does  not 
originate  in  the  pupil  has  no  permanent  qualities. 

It  is  to  be  feared  that  many  teachers  are  satisfied 
if  they  can  secure  quiet  in  their  schoolrooms  and  a 
reasonable  degree  of  good  work  in  school  subjects. 
This  may  or  may  not  mean  good  results  in  the  lives 
of  the  pupils.  The  measure  is  the  degree  of  self- 
activity  that  is  involved  in  the  process.  A  child  who 
is  a  poor  penman  but  full  of  energy  and  ambition 
may  become  a  Horace  Greeley;  while  the  good  pen- 
man without  such  qualities  may  never  rise  above  the 
commonplace. 

The  discerning  visitor  to  a  schoolroom  will  there- 
fore look  through  and  beyond  the  things  that  meet 
the  eye  and  the  ear.  He  will  not  only  look  for  good 
performances,  but  for  the  principle  underlying  them. 
Is  the  teacher  reaching  her  pupils?  Does  she  inspire 
them?  Is  her  teaching  such  as  to  arouse  their  self- 
activity?  If  so,  the  work  is  fundamentally  good,  and 
if  not,  the  work  is  essentially  poor,  however  brave 
the  show. 

If  the  purpose  of  the  teacher  and  the  school  as 
thus  stated  is  accepted,  several  deductions  follow. 


THE  AIM 


In  the  first  place,  extensive  learning,  though  very 
valuable,  is  not  indispensable  to  the  teacher.  There 
are  some  who  are  so  interested  in  subject  matter  that 
they  lose  sight  of  the  pupil  who  is  being  taught.  The 
broader  the  education  of  the  teacher  the  greater  the 
danger  of  falling  into  this  error.  When  a  teacher 

o  *-' 

of  profound  scholarship  has  also  the  right  attitude 
toward  children,  she  becomes  a  conspicuously  great 
teacher. 

But  there  are  hundreds  of  instances  of  persons  of 
very  mediocre  attainments  in  scholarship  who  have 
nevertheless  produced  remarkable  results  through 
their  enthusiasm.  That  they  would  have  been  greatly 
aided  by  scholarship  is  freely  admitted;  but  in  spite 
of  that  handicap  their  effectiveness  in  reaching  the 
children  is  noteworthy. 

In  an  obscure  country  school  in  Pennsylvania  there 
taught  a  teacher  who  had  difficulty  in  working  the 
problems  in  an  ordinary  elementary  arithmetic.  He 
would  often  say  to  his  pupils,  "For  to-morrow  we 
will  try  the  next  five  problems.  I  will  work  as  many 
as  I  can  myself,  and  we  may  be  able  to  get  the  rest 
together."  This  very  inefficiency  of  the  teacher 
proved  a  blessing  to  the  pupils,  because  they  were 
thrown  on  their  own  resources.  But  this  teacher 
was  filled  with  enthusiasm  and  earnestness.  He  could 
point  out  the  way  even  if  he  could  not  travel  it  him- 
self; and  from  that  small,  remote  school  came  no 
less  than  twenty-three  college  graduates,  many  of 
whom  have  gained  distinction  in  the  professions,  as 
well  as  men  who  have  become  markedly  successful 
in  business.  After  his  retirement,  fifty  of  these  men 


REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 


gathered  to  pay  homage  to  the  teacher  who  had  given 
them  their  inspiration  toward  success.  This  teacher 
could  show  no  high  grade  certificates  or  diplomas,  pos- 
sessed no  degrees,  knew  little  of  the  field  of  learning, 
but  he  had  reached  the  children. 

Pestalozzi  founded  our  system  of  popular  education. 
His  own  methods  of  teaching  are  said  to  have  been 
crude.  He  talked  too  much  during  a  recitation  — 
gave  the  children  little  opportunity  to  express  them- 
selves; but  he  was  so  full  of  enthusiasm  for  the  work 
and  so  permeated  with  love  for  the  children  that  he 
reached  the  hearts  of  all,  and  stimulated  them  to  a 
remarkable  degree. 

In  the  second  place,  teachers  will  carefully  consider 
their  methods  of  teaching  and  the  incentives  placed 
before  the  pupils,  and  will  ask  themselves  whether 
these  are  such  as  will  arouse  an  abiding  interest  in  the 
hearts  of  the  children,  or  whether  their  influence  will 
pass  away  with  the  ending  of  school  days.  They 
will  carefully  use  the  many  avenues  of  approach  to 
the  interests  of  the  children  until  some  way  is  found 
that  leads  to  their  hearts.  Children  will  no  longer 
be  considered  merely  as  pupils  to  be  taught,  but  as 
individuals  to  be  studied  and  helped  as  may  be  neces- 
sary. Good  teaching  demands  not  only  learning  and 
pedagogy,  but  also  psychology  in  its  broadest  sense. 

Instead,  then,  of  having  a  superficial  view  of  the 
profession,  the  teacher  should  consider  it  of  profound 
importance. 

It  requires  all  the  elements  of  heart  and  mind  that 
any  one  can  possess.  It  is  the  most  responsible 
work  that  can  engage  the  human  mind.  It  puts  to 


THE  AIM 


the  test  all  the  tact  and  judgment  and  courage  that 
are  in  the  teacher.  Its  results  are  so  far  reaching 
for  good  that  no  one  can  even  estimate  their  value. 
And  there  is  so  much  opportunity  for  leaving  things 
undone  —  for  fatal  omissions  —  that  no  one  can  es- 
timate the  possible  loss.  Teachers  often  fail  to 
appreciate  the  significance  of  this  work,  but  begin 
it  as  a  matter  of  mere  occupation  instead  of  a  means 
of  effective  service.  They  do  not  know  how  to  teach, 
nor  why  they  teach.  Our  State  authorities  are  wisely 
raising  their  standards  of  certification;  and  it  is  hoped 
that  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  at  least  some 
training  for  teaching  may  be  required  of  all  appli- 
cants, and  the  entirely  unprepared  teacher  may  be 
excluded. 

It  is  the  purpose  of  the  following  chapters  to  point 
out  specific  means  of  reaching  the  children.  It  is 
believed  that  with  sufficient  insight  all  can  be  reached. 
What  appeals  to  one  may  not  appeal  to  another.  The 
teacher  must  have  all  these  means  consciously  in 
mind,  and  must  employ  them  judiciously  in  accord- 
ance with  the  disposition  of  each  child. 

Many  teachers  of  good  purposes  have  failed  to  be 
completely  successful  because  their  aims  lacked  defi- 
niteness.  Their  ambition  was  to  do  good  to  the 
children;  but  they  did  not  set  forth  their  purposes 
in  detail  or  employ  them  with  exactness  and  fore- 
thought. 

The  physician  may  have  a  perfect  attitude  toward 
his  work,  but  he  nevertheless  needs  detailed  and  spe- 
cific knowledge  of  medicine  in  order  to  cure  his 
patients.  This  is  true  of  all  professions,  and  of  all 


6  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

lines  of  business.  So,  in  the  work  of  teaching,  a  merely 
good  person  will  be  of  little  usefulness  unless  she  is 
skilled  in  the  art  of  discovering  and  employing  the 
means  that  will  accomplish  the  chief  aim  of  the  school 
—  arousing  the  ambition  of  pupils,  and  directing  it 
in  the  right  channel. 


CHAPTER  II 
THE    TEACHER    AS    INSPIRER 

How  shall  he  give  kindling  in  whose  own  inward  man  there  is 
no  live  coal,  but  all  is  burnt  out  to  a  dead  grammatical  cinder?  — 
CARLYLE. 

The  school  is  the  manufactory  of  humanity.  —  CONFUCIUS. 

He  who  honestly  instructs  reverences  God.  —  MOHAMMED. 

The  best  teacher  is  the  one  who  suggests  rather  than  dogma- 
tizes, and  inspires  his  listener  with  the  wish  to  teach  himself.  — 
BULWER-LYTTON. 

There  is  no  human  life  so  poor  and  small  as  not  to  hold  many 
a  divine  possibility.  —  JAMES  MARTINEAU. 

LOWELL  says  of  Emerson  that  "he  had  the  supreme 
power  of  fertilizing  other  minds."  Longfellow  spent 
several  days  with  Emerson,  and  on  his  return  wrote 
poetry  with  great  intensity  for  many  weeks.  No 
American  writer  has  had  so  much  influence  on  thought 
in  this  country  as  Emerson.  He  was  the  great  in- 
spirer  of  America.  Many  obscurities  may  be  found  in 
his  prose  writings,  and  some  of  his  poems  are  said  to 
have  no  beginning,  or  middle,  or  end.  Nevertheless 
they  arouse  the  reader,  and  set  him  on  fire  with  am- 
bition, thus  doing  what  the  mere  rhetorician  can  never 
accomplish  through  a  faultless  style. 

This  is  what  Emerson  says  of  teaching:  'The 
greatest  enterprise  in  the  world,  for  splendor,  for 
extent,  is  the  up-building  of  a  man."  He  also  says 


8  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

elsewhere  that  the  value  of  a  country  should  be  meas- 
ured neither  by  the  census  nor  the  crops,  but  by  the 
kind  of  men  it  produces. 

The  great  names  of  the  past  are  the  names  of  in- 
spirers.  Who  is  the  greatest  navigator  in  all  history? 
Christopher  Columbus.  Did  he  make  the  longest  or 
quickest  voyage  in  the  world?  No.  Did  he  sail  the 
largest  ship  in  the  world?  No  —  he  made  a  slow 
voyage  in  three  miserable  ships.  And  the  results 
of  his  voyages  would  have  been  meager  indeed  if 
his  example  had  not  inspired  others  to  continue  and 
develop  his  enterprise. 

Who  is  the  greatest  scientist  of  modern  times? 
Charles  Darwin.  Did  he  know  more  science  than  any 
one  else?  No  —  Spencer  and  Tyndall  and  Huxley 
knew  much  more  than  he  did.  But  Darwin  gave  a 
marvelous  impulse  to  thought  by  his  epoch-making 
book  "The  Origin  of  Species."  Other  scientists  merely 
advanced  and  developed  the  ideas  he  originated;  and 
his  place  of  supremacy  is  sure. 

The  greatest  novelist  in  English  literature  is  Samuel 
Richardson.  Almost  no  one  now  reads  the  nine  vol- 
umes that  make  up  his  novel  "Clarissa  Harlowe"; 
and  comparatively  few  have  read  "Pamela."  Thack- 
eray and  Dickens  have  written  better  novels,  but 
Richardson  founded  the  school  of  sentimental  fiction, 
and  the  founder  is  always  greater  than  the  successor. 

David  Hume  ranks  highest  as  historian  of  England 
because  he  founded  the  literary  school  of  historical 
writing  that  reached  its  height  in  Froude,  Green, 
Freeman,  and  Macaulay. 

Horace    Mann    was    never    superintendent    of    the 


THE   TEACHER  AS  INSPIRER  9 

largest  city  in  America,  nor  was  he  State  Superin- 
tendent; but  his  name  will  rank  first  in  American 
educational  history  because  he  'blazed  the  way" 
in  the  glorious  enterprise  of  improving  school  systems. 

In  colonial  history  we  know  the  names  of  those  who 
founded  the  colonies,  but  the  names  of  their  successors 
are  obscure. 

These  illustrations  have  been  brought  forward  in 
corroboration  of  Emerson's  statement  that  the  up- 
building of  man  is  the  greatest  enterprise  in  the  world. 
We  teachers  are  engaged  in  this  wonderful  work; 
and  if  we  reach  the  pupils  and  send  them  forth  to 
live  noble  and  useful  lives  and  perhaps  to  make  great 
names  for  themselves  we  are  nevertheless  the  authors 
of  their  success,  and  in  that  sense  the  credit  of  their 
achievements  is  ours. 

It  is  of  course  true  that  the  name  of  the  teacher 
is  often  unknown  to  the  world  when  the  name  of  the 
pupil  is  famous.  But  what  of  that?  The  fact  re- 
mains, whether  known  or  unknown. 

One  of  the  most  mischievous  ideas  in  the  minds  of 
some  people  is  that  publicity  is  necessary  to  great- 
ness—  that  a  man's  success  in  life  is  measured  by  the 
number  of  times  his  name  appears  in  the  newspapers. 
This  may  be  fame,  but  it  is  not  necessarily  success  or 
greatness.  The  quiet,  unobtrusive  worker  may  set 
in  motion  forces  that  will  revolutionize  the  world. 
Name  and  fame  are  nothing  —  results  are  everything. 

The  teacher  who  inspires  her  pupils  is  on  the  same 
plane  with  all  other  persons  in  the  world's  history 
who  inspired  others.  If  she  sends  forth  pupils  full 
of  ambition  she  has  accomplished  immeasurable  re- 


10  REACHING   THE  CHILDREN 

suits.  No  one  can  estimate  the  extent  of  her  in- 
fluence. What  a  splendid  opportunity  the  teacher's 
work  thus  presents!  To  play  a  conspicuous  part  in 
making  the  world  better,  to  be  the  fountain  of  a 
stream  of  influence  that  will  broaden  and  deepen  as 
it  flows  for  generations  to  come  —  a  teacher  is  hope- 
less if  this  prospect  does  not  lift  her  up  and  inspire 
her  soul  with  zeal  and  energy  and  a  determination 
that  will  transform  her  life  and  her  work. 

The  story  in  Genesis  tells  how  man  was  made  in 
the  image  of  God;  but  he  was  mere  clay  until  God 
breathed  into  him  the  breath  of  life.  Only  then  did 
he  become  a  living  soul. 

There  are  some  communities  in  which  it  seems  as 
if  the  only  life  were  physical.  There  are  few  signs 
of  intellectual  and  moral  and  spiritual  life.  Yet  the 
capacity  for  these  higher  qualities  is  there,  and  when 
once  the  big,  strong,  virile  physical  becomes  trans- 
formed by  a  great  idea,  there  is  no  end  to  the  heights 
to  which  the  individual  may  attain.  The  soil  is  there 
—  it  needs  seed  and  fertilizer  to  produce  crops. 

"My  people  perish  for  lack  of  knowledge,"  said  the 
prophet.  Persons  in  remote  communities,  living  on 
a  low  plane,  are  benighted  simply  because  they  do 
not  know  any  better.  How  can  they?  Children  see 
and  hear  and  think  naught  but  the  low  ideals  in  which 
they  are  brought  up.  This  is  generally  true  in  all 
states  of  society.  The  children  are  not  to  blame  for 
their  conditions.  They  cannot  control  the  place  nor 
the  circumstances  into  which  they  are  born.  Yet 
they  may  be  just  as  capable  as  the  children  of  the 
most  favored.  Of  any  two  children  in  the  world  no 


THE  TEACHER  AS  INSPIRER         11 

one   can   tell   which   will    do    the   greater    service  to 
mankind. 

Into  such  a  community  the  inspiring  teacher  comes 
as  a  being  from  another  sphere.  She  brings  to  the 
children  glimpses  of  a  new  world.  Without  directly 
condemning  the  barren  wastes  in  which  the  people 
live  she  will  point  out  the  green  fields  and  the  bab- 
bling brooks  of  the  new  country.  The  children  will 
come  to  feel  that  they  need  not  live  in  this  lowly  con- 
dition all  their  lives,  but  may  advance  to  something 
better.  This  is  truly  a  great  opportunity  for  the 
teacher. 

Backward  communities  are  precisely  those  in  which 
inspiring  teachers  are  most  needed;  and  yet  the 
schools  in  such  localities  are  often  the  refuge  for  such 
teachers  as  no  other  community  wants.  When  a 
teacher  cannot,  because  of  lack  of  qualifications,  get 
a  desirable  school  she  takes  as  a  last  resort  what  is 
generally  considered  an  undesirable  school;  and  be- 
cause this  school  has  a  lowly  reputation  some  teachers 
feel  that  "anything  goes."  They  see  no  call  for  skill 
in  teaching  and  management.  The  children  are  of  a 
low  class,  and  so  they  will  remain.  Because  there 
are  but  ten  children  in  this  school  the  work  is  not 
worth  while;  yet  Abraham  Lincoln  attended  such  a 
school,  and  he  alone  was  worth  while. 

Young  teachers  usually  and  very  properly  get  the 
most  desirable  positions  they  can;  but  a  higher  mo- 
tive is  to  seek  the  position  in  which  one  can  do 
the  most  good.  Surely  there  are  more  opportunities 
for  valuable  service  in  backward  districts  where  the 
teacher  is  the  only  light  in  the  community  than  there 


REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 


are  in  a  city  where  there  are  hundreds  of  influences 
that  make  for  enlightenment. 

When  a  teacher  deliberately  elects  to  teach  in  a 
backward  community,  not  only  will  she  do  more  good 
than  elsewhere,  but  she  will  get  more  good  than  else- 
where. Giving  inspiration  to  others  always  reacts  on 
the  giver.  Doing  a  noble  work  in  any  community 
exalts  the  character  of  the  doer.  Mrs.  Ballington 
Booth,  whose  life  is  spent  in  reclaiming  criminals,  has 
a  light  in  her  face  that  would  not  be  there  if  she  were 
living  the  life  of  ordinary  society.  Missionaries  re- 
turning from  heathen  lands  have  a  "something"  in 
their  personality  that  distinguishes  them  in  a  crowd. 
This  "something"  is  one  of  the  worth  while  things 
of  life;  and  the  teacher  who  breathes  inspiration  into 
a  school  and  into  a  community  stamps  her  features 
and  her  character  with  the  mark  of  a  great  accom- 
plishment. 


CHAPTER  III 

REACHING    THE   CHILDREN    THROUGH    THE    CLASS 

RECITATION 

The  greatest  poet  is  not  he  who  has  done  the  best;  it  is  he  who 
suggests  the  most.  —  EMERSON. 

IN  all  schools  pupils  recite  their  lessons.  The 
teacher  spends  the  greater  part  of  each  day  in  con- 
ducting recitations;  and  her  daily  preparation  is  de- 
voted largely  to  the  work  of  the  recitation. 

Teachers  and  pupils  sometimes  take  the  recitation 
period  so  much  as  a  matter  of  course  that  they  are 
not  conscious  of  the  momentous  character  of  this  part 
of  the  school  day.  Years  ago  the  current  idea  of  the 
recitation  was  that  the  teacher  should  tell  pupils 
some  facts  and  at  another  time  the  pupils  should 
recite  them  —  that  is,  should  "tell  them  back"  to 
the  teacher.  Or  the  teacher  would  assign  several 
pages  in  the  book  and  the  recitation  would  consist 
in  giving  these  back  to  the  teacher.  Sometimes  the 
teacher  would  do  knitting  while  the  class  was  reciting, 
following  the  pages  with  her  eye  and  punishing  those 
who  failed  to  recite  verbatim. 

This  was,  of  course,  a  wholly  inadequate  idea  of 
the  worth  and  purpose  of  the  recitation.  A  great 
step  in  advance  was  taken  when  Dr.  E.  E.  White 
taught  that  the  objects  of  the  recitation  are  to  test, 


14  REACHING   THE  CHILDREN 

to  drill,  and  to  instruct.  Unless,  however,  we  are 
willing  to  give  to  the  word  instruct  a  very  broad 
construction,  we  must,  in  the  light  of  the  central 
purpose  of  this  book,  add  one  more  element  to  the 
recitation,  and  that  is  to  inspire. 

The  recitation  period  is  therefore  an  opportunity 
period.  It  presents  the  occasion  for  the  interaction 
of  the  mind  of  the  teacher  and  the  minds  of  the  pupils. 
The  assigned  lessons  are  merely  the  basis  for  this 
play  of  mind  on  mind.  They  afford  the  material  of 
thought.  But  the  electrical  connection  is  necessary 
before  these  materials  produce  light.  Otherwise  they 
are  dead  matter. 

Every  well  taught  lesson  inspires  pupils.  If  the 
teacher  has  a  fund  of  scholarship,  if  she  has  assembled 
the  information  and  other  material  for  the  lesson  of 
the  day,  has  organized  it  and  vivified  it  by  special 
preparation,  her  class  will  receive  an  interest  in  the 
subject,  a  desire  to  know  more  in  regard  to  it,  and  a 
glow  of  enthusiasm  that  will  weld  the  impressions  into 
permanent  forms;  and  if  the  lesson  contains  a  spirit- 
ual element,  the  pupils  will  attain  to  higher  stand- 
ards, and  form  higher  ideals. 

It  is  said  that  when  John  S.  C.  Abbott  was  engaged 
in  writing  his  ''Life  of  Napoleon,"  he  knelt  down  in  his 
library  every  morning  before  beginning  his  work  to 
seek  divine  guidance.  The  opportunity  for  reaching 
the  children  through  the  recitation  is  so  great,  and 
its  neglect  so  disastrous,  that  the  teacher  should  not 
undertake  it  without  at  least  some  sense  of  the  solemn 
duty  of  the  hour  to  make  the  recitation  effective  for 
inspiration  as  well  as  for  instruction. 


THROUGH  THE  CLASS  RECITATION  15 

Pupils  should  be  given  a  realizing  sense  of  the  dig- 
nity of  the  recitation  period.  In  many  classrooms 
some  pupils  remain  at  their  seats  to  study.  These 
latter  should  clearly  understand  that  they  must  do 
nothing  whatever  that  might  interrupt  the  recitation. 
No  hands  should  be  raised,  no  questions  asked,  no 
noise  be  made,  that  might  attract  the  attention  of 
either  teacher  or  pupils.  The  teacher  must  give  her 
undivided  attention  to  the  pupils  reciting;  otherwise 
the  connection  of  interest  will  be  broken,  and  the 
effect  of  the  recitation  lost. 

Teachers  have  been  known  to  start  a  class  in  oral 
reading  and  then  go  among  the  pupils  not  reciting 
and  give  help  here  and  there,  thus  taking  their  atten- 
tion from  the  reading  lesson.  This  is,  of  course, 
vitally  wrong.  This  makes  oral  reading  a  purely 
mechanical  exercise.  There  can  be  no  interaction  of 
mind  on  mind  unless  all  are  attentive  to  the  work  in 
hand.  Such  a  teacher  will  never  realize  the  possi- 
bilities of  the  recitation  period. 

Another  main  reason  why  the  recitation  period  is 
not  inspiring  has  already  been  suggested.  It  is  be- 
cause the  teacher  does  not  possess  fulness  of  knowl- 
edge in  regard  to  the  lesson.  Very  rarely  should  a 
teacher  have  a  book  in  her  hand  during  a  recitation 
period.  Her  eyes  should  be  on  the  pupils.  There 
must  be  a  direct  connection  between  mind  and  mind. 
The  book  breaks  the  connection. 

Many  recitation  periods  are  of  little  value  because 
of  the  wrong  method  of  conducting  them.  In  oral 
reading  lessons  the  teacher  asks  a  pupil  to  rise  and 
read,  and  tells  the  others  to  "watch  for  mistakes." 


16  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

When  the  pupil  has  read  the  paragraph,  the  hands  of 
the  others  are  all  raised.  *  What  mistake  did  you  see, 
John?"  asks  the  teacher.  "She  repeated!"  says  John, 
with  a  note  of  satisfaction  in  his  voice  because  he  was 
sharp  enough  to  detect  an  error.  "She  said  the  for 
a/'  says  Mary,  with  equal  triumph.  "Didn't  hold 
her  book  in  the  left  hand!"  is  Charley 's  sage  sugges- 
tion. And  so  the  process  goes  on,  a  pure  waste  of 
time,  a  frittering  away  of  the  precious  minutes  of 
the  recitation,  not  an  iota  of  good  accomplished.  No 
wonder  children  receive  no  impetus  from  such  fatuous 
performances.  Yet  such  recitations  occur  every  day 
in  every  state  in  the  Union.  We  are  still  far  from 
grasping  the  significance  of  the  recitation  period. 

No  recitation  period  is  of  value  unless  some  things 
are  definitely  clinched.  When  the  pupils  take  their 
seats  they  must  be  conscious  of  a  definite  acquisition. 
They  must  have  a  solid  foundation  for  further  study. 
They  can  only  be  reached  if  they  themselves  feel 
that  they  have  learned  something,  have  taken  a  dis- 
tinct step  in  advance  in  the  process  of  gaining  knowl- 
edge. There  is  much  unconscious  development  in 
the  school,  but  there  is  also  much  that  the  pupil 
must  clearly  realize.  He  will  not  be  likely  to  take 
an  interest  in  school,  or  be  susceptible  to  uplifting 
influences,  if  the  school  exercises  seem  to  him  mere 
"marking  time,"  mere  routine,  mere  things  that  must 
be  done  because  this  is  school.  Here  we  have  drudg- 
ery, not  work.  There  is  no  oxygen  in  this  atmosphere 
—  only  distilled  air,  that  can  neither  give  life,  nor 
sustain  life. 

What  a  delight  it  is  to  watch  a  teacher  conduct  a 


THROUGH  THE  CLASS  RECITATION  17 

recitation  when  she  is  thoroughly  prepared  and  knows 
how  to  teach!  The  pupils  are  eager.  She  leads  them 
through  pleasant  paths.  Her  knowledge  is  fresh  and 
clear.  Every  question  has  a  purpose.  She  is  master 
of  the  whole  situation.  There  is  electricity  in  the 
air.  When  the  period  is  over  the  pupils  have  gained 
something.  They  have  made  a  distinct  acquisition. 
They  have  had  a  valuable  intellectual  exercise.  They 
have  a  new  interest  in  the  subject.  They  are  anxious 
to  pursue  it  further. 

On  the  other  hand,  how  disappointing  it  is  to  see 
a  teacher  waste  her  opportunities  through  failure  to 
prepare  her  lesson  properly!  She  can  do  little  but 
refer  to  the  book.  There  is  no  mental  action  and 
reaction,  no  interest.  No  love  of  learning  is  enkindled, 
no  permanent  impressions  are  made.  It  is  needless 
to  say  that  such  a  teacher  is  no  inspirer;  and  it  is 
distressing  to  feel  that  thousands  of  children  are  com- 
pelled to  sit  under  such  teaching  and  waste  their 
precious  days  that  might  otherwise  be  rich  in  prep- 
aration for  life. 

A  school  stands  or  falls  if  the  recitation  period  is 
a  success  or  a  failure.  This  period  is  the  intellectual 
crisis  of  the  school  day,  and  it  is  often  the  moral  crisis. 
It  determines  not  only  whether  the  lesson  of  the  day 
shall  be  of  value,  but  whether  a  permanent  interest 
in  that  study  and  in  all  studies  shall  be  engendered. 
Hence  in  reaching  the  children  this  period  cannot 
be  overestimated.  It  behooves  all  teachers  who  seek 
to  inspire  their  pupils  to  take  careful  thought  as  to 
how  this  phase  of  the  school  work  may  be  made  a 
potent  minister  to  that  end. 


CHAPTER  IV 

REACHING    THE    CHILDREN    THROUGH    THE    SCHOOL 

LIBRARY 

A  good  book  is  the  precious  life-blood  of  a  master  spirit  em- 
balmed and  treasured  up  on  purpose  to  a  life  beyond  life.  — 
MILTON. 

The  true  university  of  these  days  is  a  collection  of  books.  — 
CARLYLE. 

In  the  best  books  great  men  talk  to  us,  give  us  their  most 
precious  thoughts,  and  pour  their  souls  into  ours.  —  CHANNING. 

WHEN  reading  the  lives  of  great  men  and  women,  one 
is  struck  by  the  fact  that  nearly  all  of  them  were  in- 
spired more  or  less  by  a  book  or  by  several  books. 
This  is  not  at  all  surprising  when  one  considers  what 
a  book  really  is.  'Great  books  are  the  life-blood  of 
master  spirits,"  says  Milton;  and  this  sums  up  their 
value.  By  reading  great  books  we  gain  this  life-blood 
for  ourselves  through  transfusion,  mysterious,  but  real. 

If  the  newspapers  were  to  announce  some  fine  morn- 
ing that  from  ten  to  twelve  that  day  a  reception  would 
be  held  at  which  the  public  were  invited  to  meet 
William  Shakespeare,  Martin  Luther,  and  Napoleon 
Bonaparte,  all  work  would  be  dropped,  and  everybody 
would  hasten  to  shake  hands  with  these  great  men. 
If  John  Milton  were  to  call  on  us  and  spend  two  hours 
in  our  sitting-room,  we  should  consider  ourselves  hon- 
ored for  life  by  the  favor.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  Mil- 


THROUGH   THE  SCHOOL  LIBRARY  19 

ton,  Shakespeare  and  the  rest  are  now  in  our  homes. 
They  are  ready  to  talk  to  us  night  and  day.  They 
are  never  too  tired  to  give  us  their  best  thoughts. 
And  yet,  instead  of  appreciating  this  wonderful  op- 
portunity, we  too  often  let  them  rest  on  the  shelves 
and  occupy  ourselves  in  talking  with  commonplace 
people.  We  "gossip  with  the  stable-boy,"  when  in 
our  houses  "kings  and  queens"  are  waiting  for  us,  as 
John  Ruskin  puts  it. 

Great  books  contain  the  finest  things  that  the  great- 
est minds  in  the  history  of  the  world  have  been  able 
to  put  on  paper.  Certainly  any  one  who  has  any 
serious  purpose  in  life  must  feel  the  need  of  being  in- 
structed by  those  greater  than  himself.  Deliberately 
to  put  aside  these  priceless  teachings  as  not  worthy 
of  time  and  attention  is  to  arrogate  to  oneself  a 
conceit  that  is  hard  to  justify.  What  can  be  thought 
of  the  intellectual  capacity  of  one  who  has  time 
to  read  current  fiction,  but  no  time  for  the  really 
great  things  in  literature?  Likewise  what  shall  we 
say  of  a  person  who  spends  hours  learning  to  play  a 
two-step  on  the  piano,  but  has  not  a  minute  to  give 
to  the  study  of  fine  music?  In  too  many  departments 
of  life  we  are  guilty  of  false  valuations.  We  count 
that  which  is  worthless  as  more  valuable  than  that 
which  is  precious. 

If  the  teacher  is  imbued  with  a  sense  of  the  value  of 
literature,  she  will  not  only  enrich  her  own  life  thereby 
but  will  use  her  utmost  endeavor  to  spread  its  in- 
fluence among  her  pupils.  This  cannot  be  well  done 
unless  there  is  careful  planning  and  forethought  on 
the  subject.  In  other  words  the  teacher  should  pre- 


20  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

pare  herself  for  the  proper  use  of  the  school  library 
in  the  same  manner  as  she  prepares  herself  to  teach 
the  regular  lessons.  The  best  results  cannot  be  se- 
cured by  a  mere  passing  attention  to  the  use  of  the 
library.  There  must  be  a  study  of  each  child's  in- 
terests. There  must  be  a  knowledge  of  the  contents 
of  all  the  books  in  the  library.  There  must  be  skill 
in  inducing  each  child  to  read  what  is  best  for  him. 
This  is  a  task  worthy  of  the  best  efforts  of  the  teacher, 
and  if  accomplished  it  may  result  in  more  actual 
good  to  the  child  than  all  the  rest  of  the  school  work 
combined. 

The  following  suggestions  may  assist  teachers  in 
this  work: 

1.  Impress  on  the  pupils  the  value  of  good  liter- 
ature, as  indicated  in  the  first  part  of  this  chapter. 

2.  Show  the  effect  of  certain  great  books  on  indi- 
viduals.    Lincoln  as  a  boy  had  a  library  of  surpass- 
ing value  —  the  Bible,   Shakespeare,   Fox's  Book  of 
Martyrs,    Weems's    Life    of    Washington,    Pilgrim's 
Progress,  and  ^Esop's  Fables.     These  books  gave  him 
a  matchless  literary  style.     They  filled  his  mind  with 
noble  thoughts,  which  not  only  stimulated  ambition 
but  kept  out  the  mean  and  low.     They  built  up  in 
him   a   moral  fiber   that   made  his   character   great. 
Indeed,  these  books  gave  us  Abraham  Lincoln.     With- 
out them,  it  is  altogether  likely  that  he  would  have 
remained  a  railsplitter. 

Benjamin  Franklin  was  powerfully  influenced  by 
reading  Cotton  Mather's  "Essays  to  Do  Good." 

Loyola  was  a  wild,  profane,  irreligious  soldier. 
While  in  a  hospital  recovering  from  a  wound  he  called 


THROUGH  THE  SCHOOL  LIBRARY  21 

for  a  book  to  pass  away  the  time.  The  only  book  to 
be  found  was  the  "Lives  of  the  Saints."  This  book 
completely  changed  the  life  of  Loyola.  He  became 
an  enthusiastic  Christian,  and  founded  the  order  of 
Jesuits,  whose  influence  has  been  great  not  only  in 
religion,  but  in  history. 

Martin  Luther  read  the  life  of  John  Huss,  the  re- 
ligious reformer,  and  was  thereby  encouraged  in  his 
own  career. 

Carey,  the  missionary,  had  his  work  marked  out 
for  him  by  reading  the  voyages  of  Captain  Cook; 
while  Wolff  became  a  great  missionary  through  read- 
ing the  life  of  St.  Francis  Xavier. 

Henry  Ward  Beecher  often  said  that  he  was  never 
quite  the  same  man  again  after  he  had  read  the  works 
of  John  Ruskin. 

"My  opportunities  in  youth  for  acquiring  an  edu- 
cation were  limited,"  said  Daniel  Webster,  "but  I 
had  the  great  good  fortune  of  being  well  supplied 
with  useful  books,  and  these  gave  me  my  start  in  life." 

Henry  Clay  wrote,  "A  wise  mother  and  good  books 
enabled  me  to  succeed  in  life.  She  was  very  poor, 
but  never  too  poor  to  buy  the  proper  books  for  her 
children." 

Alfieri  was  a  great  Italian  poet;  but  he  would  have 
lived  a  commonplace  life  had  not  his  ambition  been 
stirred  by  the  reading  of  Plutarch.  This  remarkable 
book  has  inspired  many  of  our  great  men,  notably 
Montaigne,  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  Benjamin  Franklin, 
Daniel  Webster,  Alexander  Hamilton,  Emerson,  Phillips 
Brooks,  Edward  Everett,  Lew  Wallace,  and  William 
E.  Gladstone. 


22  REACHING   THE  CHILDREN 

3.  Make  frequent  references  to  the  books  in  the 
library.  Draw  illustrations  therefrom.  For  instance, 
if  a  volume  of  Du  Chaillu's  African  experiences  is  in 
the  library,  or  Baker's  "Cast  Up  by  the  Sea,"  and 
Africa  is  being  studied  in  the  geography  class,  the 
teacher  can  draw  her  illustrations  from  these  books, 
and  thus  arouse  a  desire  in  the  pupils  to  read  them. 
In  the  same  way  Scott  can  be  approached.  In  his- 
tory the  field  is  much  wider.  If  properly  taught 
American  history  will  at  every  point  lead  to  an  inter- 
est in  the  great  men  and  women  whose  names  are  met 
on  its  pages,  and  a  desire  to  read  their  biographies. 

The  reading  lesson  is  the  medium  of  approaching 
good  literature.  One  poem  by  Longfellow  naturally 
leads  to  another  by  the  same  writer.  A  part  of  a 
long  poem  should  stimulate  pupils  to  read  the  whole. 
A  professor  of  English  once  said  that  in  his  opinion 
the  finest  eulogy  on  music  is  to  be  found  in  the  fol- 
lowing lines  from  Milton's  Comus: 

"Scylla  wept, 

And  chid  her  barking  waves  into  attention, 
And  fell  Charybdis  murmured  soft  applause." 

This  statement  led  at  least  some  members  of  the 
class  not  only  to  seek  a  knowledge  of  Scylla  and 
Charybdis,  but  to  study  the  whole  poem. 

If  pupils  are  told  that  Dumas'  "The  Three  Mus- 
keteers" is  the  finest  romance  ever  written,  they  will 
sit  up  and  take  notice.  A  prominent  lawyer  once 
stated  that  in  his  judgment  the  best  thing  Dickens 
ever  wrote  was  "Martin  Chuzzlewit."  This  led  at  least 
one  of  his  hearers  to  read  it  at  his  first  opportunity. 


THROUGH  THE  SCHOOL  LIBRARY  23 

The  expression  of  interest  and  enthusiasm  on  the 
part  of  the  teacher  is  thus  the  means  of  arousing 
curiosity  and  interest  in  the  books  of  the  library.  If 
these  books  are  not  read,  it  is  usually  due  to  the  neg- 
lect of  the  teacher.  It  is  demonstrable  that  nearly 
all  pupils  are  interested  in  the  things  in  which  the 
teacher  is  interested.  They  will  not  have  their  hearts 
in  anything  in  which  the  teacher  does  not  have  her 
heart.  Perfunctory  teaching  never  aroused  an  interest 
in  anything. 

4.  New  books  should  be  added  to  the  library  from 
time  to  time.     This  in  itself  arouses  interest.     If  new 
books  cannot  be  bought,  exchanges  can  be  made  with 
neighboring  schools,  to  the  advantage  of  both. 

5.  Use  the  library  books  for  the  reading  class.     If 
there  is  only  one  copy,  let  one  pupil  read  several  pages 
while  the  others  listen.     Then  another  pupil   reads. 
Discussions  can  take  place  as  needed.     There  is  no 
better  way  of  conducting  reading  lessons.     It  is  not 
true  that  no  reading  class  can  be  properly  conducted 
unless  each  pupil  has  a  book  in  his  hand. 

6.  The  teacher  herself  should  read  good  literature 
to  the  whole  school.     A  teacher  of  third  grade  pupils 
whose   ages   averaged   eight   years,   devoted   the   last 
fifteen  minutes  each  school  day  to  reading  Wallace's 
"Ben-Hur"  to  them.     Of  course  she  could  not  read 
this  book  as  printed,  because  the  vocabulary  is  too 
difficult  for  pupils  of  that  grade;    but  she  told  the 
story  in  her  own  words  with  the  book  open  before 
her  and   she   made  judicious  omissions.     The  pupils 
were  aflame  with  interest  in  the  story.     The  discus- 
sions  that   arose   as   to   points    in   the   story  would 


24  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

have  done  credit  to  pupils  many  years  older,  and  a 
profound  impression  for  good  was  made  on  the  class. 

If  the  teacher  will  read  "Little  Women"  to  her 
pupils,  she  will  have  no  trouble  inducing  many  to 
read  "Little  Men,"  "Old-fashioned  Girl,"  and  other 
books  by  Miss  Alcott. 

By  reading  to  older  pupils  portions  of  great  poems, 
or  great  essays,  or  great  orations,  they  may  be  led  to 
further  reading  by  themselves. 

It  is  plain,  of  course,  that  this  reading  by  the 
teacher  must  be  well  done.  If  she  reads  in  an  un- 
impressive manner  she  kills  interest.  It  were  better 
she  should  not  read  at  all  than  that  she  should  dis- 
gust pupils  with  literature.  She  must  give  careful 
forethought  and  preparation  to  the  selection  to  be 
read,  and  must  put  her  soul  into  the  reading.  By 
so  doing  she  will  not  only  create  an  interest  in  good 
books,  but  will  reach  the  children  by  giving  them  the 
ideals  that  are  found  in  literature. 

The  reading  of  library  books  by  children  has  a  cer- 
tain value  that  is  often  not  appreciated  or  even  con- 
sidered, and  yet  which  is  of  prime  importance.  The 
child  who  is  interested  in  reading  books  will  stay  at 
home  in  the  evening  and  not  waste  his  time  running 
about  on  the  streets  with  the  inevitable  undesirable 
companionship.  This  is  a  point  lost  sight  of  by  those 
who  advocate  no  home  study  for  pupils.  They  seem 
to  assume  that  all  children  have  good  homes  in  which 
all  kinds  of  proper  influences  are  placed  around  them. 
It  may  well  be  that  no  home  study  is  the  proper  plan 
in  such  cases.  But  consider  how  many  children  do  not 
have  homes  of  that  character  —  that  the  only  books 


THROUGH  THE  SCHOOL    LIBRARY  25 

in  the  home  adapted  to  the  child  are  those  he  brings 
from  school  —  that  there  are  no  other  influences  that 
keep  him  indoors.  Hence,  out  he  goes  on  the  street. 
The  roistering  life  rapidly  develops  a  distaste  for  the 
quiet  necessary  for  reading.  The  child  soon  craves 
nothing  but  action  and  movement,  and  has  no  pa- 
tience for  thinking.  He  therefore  misses  the  great 
things  of  literature,  and  gets  in  their  place  the 
doubtful  learning  of  the  streets. 

The  mind  is  always  occupied  by  something.  It  is 
never  wholly  idle,  even  during  sleep.  Shakespeare  has 
truly,  even  scientifically,  said,  'The  mind  grows  by 
what  it  feeds  on."  We  are  familiar  with  the  fact 
that  the  body  is  made  up  of  the  substances  we  eat 
and  drink.  The  same  is  true  of  the  mind.  If  it 
dwells  on  border  ruffian  life,  there  is  great  danger 
that  the  boy  will  become  a  bully.  If  it  feeds  on  sen- 
sational city  life,  the  boy  is  in  a  fair  way  to  seek 
entrance  into  that  life  by  proper  means  or  improper. 
The  girl  who  nourishes  herself  on  the  stories  told  of 
the  gay  life  on  Broadway  will  be  a  fit  subject  for  sen- 
sational acts  in  her  own  circle  of  society,  and  may 
even  give  up  her  home  for  the  allurements  of  the 
city. 

It  is  therefore  plain  that  the  child  can  be  brought 
up  to  be  a  fine  character  if  his  thinking  can  be  prop- 
erly directed;  and  since  reading  is  so  large  a  part  of 
the  child's  thinking,  the  importance  of  supplying  good 
books  and  arousing  an  interest  in  them  is  evident. 
When  the  home  does  nothing  in  this  matter,  the 
teacher  must  fill  the  need,  or  it  will  never  be  filled. 

It  has   been  well   said  that  there  is  a  tide  in  the 


26  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

affairs  of  boys  and  girls  which,  taken  at  the  flood,  leads 
on  to  fortune.  That  tide  is  very  apt  to  come  to  them 
at  the  age  of  twelve  to  fourteen.  It  is  then  that  char- 
acter begins  to  take  on  permanence.  It  is  then  that 
the  imagination  is  especially  active.  If  at  this  time 
the  teacher  gets  the  child  to  read  the  right  book  she 
may  give  direction  to  his  whole  life.  One  book  may 
mean  fortune,  or  it  may  mean  shallows  and  miseries. 
It  may  mean  the  development  of  a  man  or  woman  of 
great  usefulness  in  the  world,  or  it  may  mean  one 
who  will  contribute  to  the  sum  of  its  wickedness. 
From  this  aspect  the  neglect  of  the  proper  use  of  the 
library  may  have  most  serious  consequences,  while 
its  proper  use  may  be  a  service  to  humanity  larger 
than  any  other  the  teacher  may  be  able  to  render. 


CHAPTER  V 

REACHING  THE  CHILDREN  THROUGH  THE 

PLAYGROUND 

Better  a  playground  without  a  school,  than  a  school  without  a 
playground.  —  LUTHER  H.  GULICK. 

The  foregoing  quotation  by  Dr.  Gulick  was  made 
with  particular  regard  to  the  value  of  the  play- 
ground to  pupils  physically  and  socially.  It  is,  how- 
ever, also  of  large  importance  in  "getting  hold"  of 
some  pupils  whom  the  teacher  cannot  reach  in  the 
course  of  school  work.  It  affords  a  fine  opportunity, 
in  addition  to  the  physical  benefits,  for  the  study  of 
the  pupil  by  the  teacher,  and  for  the  formation  of 
a  friendship,  or  a  common  interest,  that  may  be 
indefinitely  enlarged. 

It  is  an  unfortunate  fact  that  many  teachers  do  not 
play  with  their  pupils.  They  occupy  their  recesses  by 
preparing  work  for  the  coming  recitations,  or  they  sit 
at  their  desks  and  read.  Some  go  so  far  as  to  stand 
at  the  window  and  keep  their  eyes  on  the  pupils  while 
they  play.  All  these  methods  are  objectionable.  The 
teacher  needs  exercise  at  recess  as  well  as  the  pupils. 
Ten  minutes  of  activity  in  the  open  air  will  brighten 
her  spirits,  keep  her  mind  fresh  and  prevent  her  from 
getting  "  cranky."  Watching  the  pupils  for  disci- 
plinary purposes  creates  a  wrong  feeling  between 
teacher  and  pupils. 


28  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

But  if  she  joyously  enters  into  the  sports  of  the 
pupils,  teaches  them  new  games,  and  becomes  one 
with  them,  she  will  get  closer  to  their  little  hearts  in 
a  day  than  she  otherwise  can  in  a  month. 

If  any  of  her  pupils  have  the  habit  of  using  rough 
language  on  the  playground,  all  the  teacher  need  do 
is  to  play  with  them.  Of  course  there  will  be  no 
roughness  when  she  is  there;  and  after  a  few  days 
rough  language  will  fall  into  disuse.  The  habit  of 
using  proper  language  will  be  confirmed;  and  thus  a 
very  great  reform  can  be  accomplished  without  a  word 
being  said  by  any  one.  How  much  better  this  is  than 
to  secure  the  same  result  through  harsh  measures,  even 
if  this  were  possible! 

A  young  man  once  took  a  position  as  principal,  in 
a  school  of  four  teachers.  Some  of  the  largest  pupils 
were  more  powerful  physically  than  he  was.  But  he 
had  no  trouble  with  them,  largely  because  he  played 
baseball  with  them  at  recess  times.  One  morning 
there  was  some  commotion  among  the  pupils  before 
school  opened.  On  inquiry  the  principal  learned  that 
a  new  pupil  was  coming  to  school  that  morning,  a 
large  boy,  the  son  of  a  saloon-keeper.  This  boy  had 
a  bad  record,  having  been  sent  out  of  school  the  year 
before.  The  principal  was  apprehensive  that  trouble 
might  arise;  but  at  recess  time,  when  he  started  the 
game  with  the  boys,  he  learned  that  the  newcomer 
was  a  ''baseball  fiend."  The  principal  was  pitching 
when  the  new  boy  came  to  bat.  The  boy  evidently 
expected  to  have  no  trouble  in  hitting  at  least  two 
bases,  and  rather  laughed  at  the  idea  of  a  teacher 
playing  baseball.  But  the  principal  was  on  his  met- 


THROUGH  THE  PLAYGROUND  29 

tie,  and  the  boy,  to  his  surprise,  struck  out.  That 
was  the  beginning  of  a  wholesome  respect  on  the  part 
of  the  pupil  for  his  principal.  They  talked  baseball 
together,  formed  a  comradeship  on  the  playground, 
and  had  no  trouble  whatever  during  the  school  year. 
A  similar  influence,  though  not  so  marked,  was  exerted 
on  the  other  boys.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  that  prin- 
cipal's ability  and  willingness  to  enter  into  the  sports 
of  the  pupils  was  a  greater  asset  in  disciplining  his 
school  than  all  other  qualities  combined. 

In  our  rural  schools  especially,  children  know  but 
very  few  games  to  play.  They  do  not  have  half  as 
much  fun  as  they  might  if  they  were  taught  how  to 
play  many  more  games.  It  is  very  important  that 
children  should  play.  Up  to  the  age  of  six  the  whole 
business  of  the  child  is  to  play;  and  throughout  his 
school  career  it  should  be  a  prominent  part  of  the 
school  course.  The  teacher  should  therefore  not  con- 
fine her  thought  and  activity  to  the  work  side  alone, 
but  should  also  teach  the  child  out  of  doors  in  his 
pleasures. 

It  is  a  well  known  fact  that  a  child's  real  character 
does  not  reveal  itself  when  he  is  hemmed  in  by  rules 
and  authority;  but  he  shows  his  true  make-up  when 
he  is  free  to  do  as  he  pleases.  Therefore  the  play- 
ground is  a  great  revealer  of  character,  because  on 
the  playground  much  of  the  restriction  of  the  school- 
room is  removed. 

A  visitor  to  a  school  once  saw  a  fine  dismissal  of 
pupils.  They  were  on  the  second  floor;  and  as  the 
line  was  passing  out  he  noticed  a  boy,  larger  than 
others,  standing  at  the  stairway  and  controlling  the 


30  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

whole  line,  taking  special  pains  to  see  that  the  little 
children  were  properly  protected.  On  mentioning  this 
fact  to  the  teacher  (who,  by  the  way,  was  not  in  the 
hallway),  the  teacher  smiled,  and  said:  "The  first 
day  I  opened  school  this  same  boy  planted  himself 
at  the  foot  of  the  steps,  and  tripped  every  little  child 
he  could.  However,  I  said  nothing  about  it,  but 
studied  the  boy.  I  noticed  that  on  the  playground 
he  was  a  leader;  and  I  determined  to  take  full  advan- 
tage of  his  leadership. 

"At  the  end  of  the  first  week  of  school  I  had  a 
talk  with  him.  I  told  him  that  I  was  concerned  about 
the  safety  of  the  children  as  they  passed  down  the 
stairs  —  that  he  was  the  largest  boy  in  school,  and 
that  I  should  like  to  have  him  help  me  out  by  assum- 
ing entire  charge  of  the  dismissal.  He  agreed.  We 
discussed  the  best  plan  for  regulating  the  dismissal, 
and  the  following  Monday  he  took  charge.  No  one 
could  possibly  be  more  careful  of  the  proper  discharge 
of  his  duties  than  he  is.  Instead  of  being  a  source  of 
trouble,  he  is  now  my  right  hand  man." 

Not  only  is  the  teacher's  influence  strong  to  banish 
rough  language  from  the  playground,  but  in  a  posi- 
tive way  pupils  may  be  taught  many  valuable  lessons 
through  the  example  and  precept  of  the  teacher.  For 
instance,  there  is  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  some 
pupils  to  claim  they  were  "safe"  when  they  know 
they  were  "out,v  and  by  vociferating  and  bullying 
they  sometimes  maintain  their  claim.  By  and  by  the 
general  idea  spreads  that  any  claim  is  proper  if  it  can 
be  successfully  asserted.  This  is  the  very  abdication 
of  honesty.  It  is  training  in  dishonesty.  From  the 


THROUGH  THE  PLAYGROUND  31 

playground  these  pupils  go  into  life  with  the  spirit  of 
getting  the  better  of  others  if  they  can  regardless  of 
right  and  wrong.  Thus  a  most  mischievous  idea  is 
developed. 

If,  however,  the  teacher  is  "out,"  he  at  once  yields 
the  point.  Even  if  the  umpire  calls  him  "safe,"  he 
would  do  well  to  say,  "No,  I  was  out,"  unless  the 
decision  was  very  close.  Then  he  may  take  occa- 
sion during  school  hours  to  discuss  the  moral  point 
involved,  and  show  pupils  how  dishonesty  in  play 
is  just  as  reprehensible  as  dishonesty  off  the  play- 
ground. 

He  can  also  very  effectively  teach  generosity  and 
politeness.  If  there  is  a  question  as  to  which  of  two 
games  is  to  be  played,  the  teacher  should  yield  his 
preference.  If  a  disagreement  arises  as  to  which  of 
two  sides  is  right  in  a  contention,  unless  some  prin- 
ciple is  involved,  the  teacher  shows  that  the  gentle- 
manly way  is  to  give  the  privilege  to  the  other  side. 
Scrupulous  fairness  to  an  opponent  is  a  most  valuable 
mental  habit;  and  nowhere  can  this  be  better  em- 
phasized than  in  the  situations  that  arise  in  all  con- 
tests. Thus  may  selfishness  be  dealt  a  strong  blow; 
and  thus  may  the  altruistic  virtues  be  trained  and 
strengthened,  to  the  end  that  the  finer  traits  of  char- 
acter may  be  developed,  and  the  child  be  fitted  to  be 
a  worthy  member  of  society. 

If  you  want  to  win  the  heart  of  a  boy,  join  him  in 
his  play. 

The  old  idea  of  a  school  was  monarchical.  The 
teacher  was  the  autocrat  and  the  pupils  were  the  sub- 
jects. It  was  beneath  his  dignity  to  mingle  on  even 


32  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

terms  with  adults,  to  say  nothing  of  children.  Obe- 
dience, prompt  and  unquestioned,  was  his  demand. 
Pupils  were  not  supposed  to  think  —  he  did  all  the 
thinking  for  them. 

The  modern  idea  of  a  school  is  that  of  the  kinder- 
garten —  a  democracy.  In  a  true  kindergarten  the 
teachers  play  with  the  children,  sit  on  the  same  seats, 
and  are  simply  leaders  and  directors.  That  idea 
should  pervade  the  entire  system.  Children  however 
young  have  individualities  that  should  be  recognized 
and  respected.  Hence,  under  the  democratic  idea, 
the  teacher  will  mingle  on  even  terms  with  pupils  and 
parents,  showing  no  more  dignity  than  any  other  per- 
son should  properly  show  under  the  same  circum- 
stances. Thus  he  will  reach  the  pupils  through  the 
strong  force  of  mutual  regard  and  good  will. 


CHAPTER  VI 

REACHING  THE  CHILDREN  THROUGH  INDUSTRIAL 

TRAINING 

All  work,  even  cotton-spinning,  is  noble;  work  is  alone  noble. 
—  CARLYLE. 

THE  demand  of  today  is  that  the  course  of  study 
and  the  instruction  in  our  schools  shall  be  related  to 
the  needs  of  everyday  life.  There  was  a  time  when 
the  course  of  study  was  purely  literary.  It  was 
thought  that  industrial  subjects  are  useless  for  pur- 
poses of  mental  training.  This  was  in  accordance 
with  the  teachings  of  the  old  psychology. 

It  is  held  by  some  educators  that,  as  far  as  train- 
ing the  mind  is  concerned,  the  study  of  agriculture 
is  as  valuable  as  the  study  of  Greek,  and  is  of  much 
more  usefulness  in  practical  life.  Hence  the  very 
rapid  movement  of  late  years  toward  a  decrease  in 
the  number  of  literary  subjects  and  an  increase  in  the 
number  of  industrial  subjects. 

However,  entirely  apart  from  the  practical  bearing 
of  industrial  subjects,  they  have  a  value  in  reaching 
certain  children  that  cannot  be  overestimated. 

Dr.  Bryan,  in  his  fascinating  book,  "The  Basis  of 
Practical  Teaching,"  devotes  one  chapter  to  'The 
Stimulus  of  Success,"  in  which  he  shows  that  in  order 
to  secure  a  basis  for  advancement  in  a  child's  progress 


34  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

it  is  necessary  to  find  something  that  he  can  do  well. 
From  that  as  a  point  of  departure  he  will  be  stimu- 
lated to  doing  other  things  well.  It  is  immaterial 
what  this  acquirement  may  be  —  whether  skill  in  a 
certain  study,  or  in  a  certain  game  —  the  essential 
point  is  that  the  pupil  must  excel  in  something;  and 
without  such  excellence  but  little  can  be  done  for  the 
pupil. 

Dr.  Bryan  shows  that  if  two  problems  are  assigned 
to  a  class,  one  easy  and  one  difficult,  the  chances  of 
getting  both  problems  right  are  much  greater  if  the 
easy  one  is  first  attempted.  In  the  one  case,  success 
in  the  easy  instills  confidence  for  the  difficult;  in  the 
other,  failure  in  the  difficult  unfits  the  student  for 
success  with  the  easy. 

In  the  freshman  class  of  a  prominent  high  school 
near  New  York  was  a  boy  whose  work  in  Latin  was 
exceedingly  poor.  He  happened,  however,  to  be  the 
only  freshman  on  the  high  school  baseball  team;  and 
in  an  important  contest  in  which  his  team  lost  by  a 
score  of  two  to  one,  he  was  responsible  for  the  one 
run,  having  made  a  three  base  hit  and  scored  on  an 
error.  He  was  the  hero  of  that  game. 

His  Latin  teacher  said  to  him  on  Monday  morning, 
"James,  I  understand  you  covered  yourself  with  glory 
in  the  game  last  Saturday.  That  is  fine;  but  really 
a  person  should  not  be  a  star  in  only  one  line.  Why 
don't  you  make  a  star  of  yourself  in  this  Latin  class 
too?':  The  idea  appealed  to  the  boy,  and  for  the  rest 
of  the  year  his  work  in  Latin  showed  remarkable  im- 
provement. 

There  are  some  excellent  pupils  who  are  not  book- 


THROUGH  INDUSTRIAL   TRAINING  35 

minded,  but  hand-minded.  They  fail  in  the  literary 
side  of  their  school  life.  They  cannot  read  well,  nor 
write  well,  nor  do  any  other  of  the  regular  studies 
well.  They  have  fallen  (or  come)  into  the  habit  of 
failure,  which  is  exactly  the  opposite  of  the  habit  of 
success,  and  leads  in  the  opposite  direction.  Such 
pupils  are  apt  to  be  several  years  older  than  the 
others  in  the  class,  and  are  regarded  as  backward 
pupils;  and  what  is  much  more  unfortunate,  they 
regard  themselves  as  backward  pupils. 

Now  these  pupils  may  potentially  have  the  elements 
of  good  citizenship  to  a  higher  degree  than  others 
whose  standing  in  regular  studies  is  very  high,  but 
they  have  not  been  reached.  Books  do  not  make 
an  appeal  to  them.  Give  them  tools  and  wood  or 
set  them  to  work  on  a  garden  plot,  or  put  them 
behind  a  team  of  horses,  and  their  ability  may  at  once 
become  manifest.  Hence  the  value  of  manual  training 
in  reaching  pupils. 

An  interesting  point  here  is  that  this  is  the  best  way 
of  making  these  pupils  proficient  in  the  regular  studies. 
It  has  often  been  noticed  that  if  a  pupil  who  does 
poor  work  in  his  classroom,  is  given  work  in  manual 
training,  he  will  show  instant  improvement  in  his 
other  studies  also.  Furthermore,  he  is  very  likely  to 
improve  in  his  conduct. 

In  some  schools  certain  pupils  who  are  in  too  low 
a  grade  to  join  the  manual  training  classes  clamor 
for  the  privilege,  and  why?  Because  they  feel  that 
here  is  work  they  can  do;  and  as  all  the  rest  of  their 
school  work  consists  of  what  they  cannot  do,  their 
school  life  is  dreary  drudgery  from  morning  to  night. 


36  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

No  wonder  they  drop  out.  Under  such  conditions 
school  holds  nothing  for  them.  They  are  wasting 
their  time,  and  are  getting  into  bad  intellectual  and 
moral  habits. 

Some  years  ago  we  prided  ourselves  on  the  dem- 
ocracy of  our  public  school  system.  We  felt  that  birth, 
nationality,  wealth,  gave  no  advantage  to  one  pupil 
over  another,  as  far  as  the  public  schools  were  con- 
cerned. All  pupils  had  an  equal  chance.  We  gave 
the  same  opportunity  to  all. 

When,  however,  through  the  beneficent  results  of 
child  study  we  became  sensible  of  what  we  had  always 
known  before,  that  children  differ  from  one  another, 
we  began  to  realize  that  what  is  a  good  chance  for 
one  is  not  necessarily  a  good  chance  for  another. 
In  other  words,  the  same  opportunity  for  all  does  not 
in  the  least  imply  an  equal  opportunity  for  all.  We 
gave  a  fine  opportunity  for  the  book-minded  child, 
but  none  at  all  for  the  hand-minded  child.  We  gave 
many  chances  to  the  literary  pupil,  but  none  to  the 
industrial  pupil.  The  latter  was  never  reached,  be- 
cause we  violated  the  psychological  principle  that 
the  child  cannot  be  influenced  through  what  he  does 
not  like,  or  through  what  does  not  seem  valuable  to 
him. 

It  follows  then  that  a  teacher  should  find  for  every 
pupil  something  he  can  do  well.  If  this  cannot  be 
found  in  his  regular  studies,  it  must  be  sought  in  the 
special  subjects.  If  it  cannot  be  found  there,  it  must 
be  sought  on  the  playground.  If  not  in  any  of  these 
places,  it  may  be  found  in  the  home  or  in  the  store, 
or  on  the  farm.  Something  must  be  found  that  the 


THROUGH  INDUSTRIAL   TRAINING  37 

child  does  well.  Nothing  can  be  done  for  him  other- 
wise. How  important,  therefore,  that  the  teacher 
should  study  her  pupils  on  the  playground,  and  should 
become  familiar  with  their  homes ;  and  how  important 
also  that  she  should  fit  herself  to  teach  the  manual 
arts,  so  that  no  pupil  may  be  lost  through  her  inef- 
ficiency. 


CHAPTER  VII 

REACHING    THE   CHILDREN    THROUGH   SELF- 
GOVERNMENT 

In  the  supremacy  of  self-control  consists  one  of  the  perfections 
of  the  ideal  man.  —  HERBERT  SPENCER. 
I  will  be  lord  over  myself.  —  GOETHE. 

IT  has  already  been  stated  that  the  central  prin- 
ple  of  education  is  the  self -activity  of  the  child.  As 
far  as  the  government  of  a  child  is  concerned,  there 
is  no  growth  in  the  power  of  self-control  except  in  so 
far  as  the  child  controls  himself.  No  self-control  has 
ever  been  developed  by  outside  control.  The  latter 
may  produce  obedience,  which  is  desirable,  but  it 
does  not  produce  self-control. 

A  child  who  is  not  permitted  to  make  any  choices 
for  himself,  but  is  directed  in  all  he  does  by  fond  par- 
ents or  teachers,  is  bound  to  grow  up  a  weakling. 
He  can  grow  in  the  power  of  self-control  only  by  the 
choices  he  makes  for  himself,  and  not  by  choices  that 
are  made  for  him  by  others.  Hence  the  great  mistake 
made  by  excessive  supervision  of  children  by  parents 
and  teachers. 

Emerson  in  his  essay  on  Self-Reliance  says,  "Self- 
trust  is  the  essence  of  heroism."  Again  he  says 
'Trust  thyself!  Every  heart  vibrates  to  that  iron 
string."  If  a  person  cannot  accomplish  much  unless 


THROUGH  SELF-GOVERNMENT  39 

he  has  trust  in  himself,  he  cannot  expect  others  to 
accomplish  much  if  he  does  not  trust  them.  Hence 
as  far  as  the  individual  is  concerned  he  must  trust 
himself,  and  as  far  as  others  are  concerned  he  must 
also  trust  them. 

The  main  reason  why  children  can  be  reached 
through  self-government  is  because  this  method  im- 
plies a  recognition  of  the  essential  manhood  or  woman- 
hood of  each  child.  The  glory  of  the  adult  is  liberty 
to  do  as  he  pleases.  Every  time  a  boy  does  what 
he  pleases  he  is  assuming  the  prerogative  of  a  man; 
and  as  every  boy's  constant  desire  is  to  become  a 
man,  the  more  he  does  what  he  pleases  the  more  he 
is  acting  like  a  man. 

Therefore  in  no  other  way  can  the  teacher  reach 
the  pupils  more  effectively  than  by  assuming  that 
they  are  men  and  women  and  treating  them  accord- 
ingly. Of  course  this  doctrine  must  be  applied  with 
sense,  otherwise  it  will  lead  to  anarchy.  But  as  a 
principle  it  is  correct. 

Edward  Everett  Hale  says  that  when  he  and  his 
brothers  were  still  boys  their  father  treated  them  as 
if  they  were  men  —  took  them  into  his  confidence  in 
business  affairs,  sent  them  to  the  bank,  gave  them 
important  commissions  to  transact  —  and  as  a  result 
they  rose  to  the  occasion.  Dr.  Hale  stated  in  his 
mature  years  that  this  was  one  of  the  finest  things 
in  his  training. 

Some  teachers  years  ago  conducted  their  schools  on 
the  basis  that  the  teacher  is  everything  and  the  pupils 
are  nothing.  The  school  was  run  largely  on  the  basis 
of  the  teacher's  comfort  and  convenience.  Now  we 


40  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

believe  that  the  interests  of  pupils  are  paramount,  and 
the  teacher  merely  a  servant  —  not  at  all  a  menial 
position,  for  did  not  Christ  say  that  the  greatest 
should  be  the  servant  of  the  others?  In  a  democracy 
the  child  must  be  trained  for  self-government;  and 
therefore  the  important  matter  in  the  schoolroom  is 
the  child's  comfort,  the  child's  activity,  the  child's 
welfare,  not  those  of  the  teacher. 

It  is  a  well  known  fact  that  a  teacher  can  get  little 
children  to  do  almost  anything  she  pleases  by  sug- 
gestion, and  that  commands  are  seldom  necessary. 
Suppose  for  example  that  the  pupils  have  the  habit  of 
leaving  their  seats  at  any  time,  and  the  teacher 
wishes  to  check  this  habit.  She  can  say,  "I  don't 
want  anybody  to  leave  his  seat  without  permission." 
This  may  cure  the  fault.  The  pupils  may  obey 
through  fear  of  the  consequences. 

Another  teacher  will  discuss  the  matter  with  the 
pupils.  She  will  say,  "Pupils,  do  you  think  it  is  best 
for  the  class  for  pupils  to  leave  their  seats  whenever 
they  please? "  The  pupils  will  answer,  "No."  Then 
the  teacher  will  say,  "Do  you  think  if  we  were  all  to 
try  real  hard  we  could  stay  in  our  seats  until  recess 
time?':  The  pupils  will  eagerly  respond  in  the  affirm- 
ative. Then  the  teacher  will  say,  "Very  well,  now  we 
will  all  try  to  remember."  And  there  is  little  doubt 
that  the  end  will  be  gained  by  the  pupils'  participation. 
This  is  the  vital  difference  between  the  two  plans 
suggested.  It  is  the  first  step  in  the  training  of 
children  to  become  completely  self-governing. 

To  state  the  principle  once  more  we  may  say  that 
everything  in  the  school  life  that  requires  action  on 


THROUGH  SELF-GOVERNMENT  41 

the  part  of  pupils  should  be  done  through  the  initia- 
tive of  the  pupils  or  through  their  willing  assent  to 
the  suggestion  of  the  teacher. 

There  are  well  known  high  schools  and  grammar 
schools  in  which  all  government  is  carried  on  by  pupil 
control  in  imitation  of  a  borough  or  city  government. 
Officers  are  elected  and  a  constitution  adopted  under 
which  the  whole  school  is  conducted.  This  gives 
excellent  practice  in  the  duties  of  citizenship.  What 
concerns  us,  however,  is  the  fact  that  by  this  means 
pupils  feel  a  sense  of  dignity  and  responsibility  that 
makes  them  thoughtful.  They  act  from  worthy  motives. 

There  are  other  schools  in  which  the  spirit  of  self- 
government  exists  without  any  organization.  Each 
pupil  understands  that  he  is  expected  to  do  the  right 
thing,  and  is  trusted  to  do  so  until  he  proves  himself 
unworthy. 

One  such  school  consisted  of  about  seventy-five 
high  school  pupils  and  fifty  seventh  and  eighth  grade 
pupils.  These  pupils  were  told  in  assembly  one  morn- 
ing by  their  principal  that  he  considered  them  all  old 
enough  to  do  what  is  right,  and  that  he  would  trust 
them  in  all  respects.  He  required  no  written  excuses 
for  absence  or  tardiness.  If  a  pupil  needed  to  leave 
school  before  its  close  he  went  out  just  as  a  grown 
person  would  do.  If  the  principal  was  called  out  of  a 
classroom  he  would  appoint  a  pupil  to  continue  the 
recitation,  or  the  class  would  select  one  of  their 
number  to  teach.  If  a  teacher  was  absent  the  prin- 
cipal would  appoint  a  pupil  teacher  for  each  class. 
This  was,  however,  almost  entirely  confined  to  the 
high  school  classes. 


42  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

These  pupils  are  now  men  and  women.  It  could 
be  shown,  not  only  from  the  observations  of  the  teach- 
ers at  the  time,  but  by  the  testimony  of  these  men 
and  women  that  the  classes  and  the  whole  school  were 
managed  with  dignity,  and  that  the  appeal  to  their 
manhood  and  womanhood  was  of  lasting  value. 

In  this  school  the  question  always  was,  "How  would 
right  minded  men  and  women  act?'  This  was  the 
standard  for  the  acts  of  the  pupils.  Of  course  there 
were  occasional  offenses.  These  pupils  were  not  per- 
fect. Neither  are  men  and  women  perfect.  But  if 
something  improper  occurred,  and  the  principal  said 
to  the  assembled  students,  "I  wish  the  person  who 
did  this  would  come  to  the  office  after  dismission," 
the  person  invariably  came  and  confessed.  In  two 
years  only  one  pupil  failed  to  meet  this  test.  Thus 
as  far  as  possible  these  pupils  were  precipitated  into 
adult  life  of  a  high  order,  they  lived  and  moved  in  an 
atmosphere  of  moral  dignity,  they  gained  fine  views 
of  life,  they  had  practice  in  noble  living.  And  many 
a  pupil  who  could  not  be  reached  by  threats  or  pun- 
ishment was  reached,  or  rather  reached  himself,  by 
this  simple  appeal  to  his  better  nature. 

When  a  pupil  has  committed  an  offense,  it  is  ex- 
ceedingly important  that  he  should  assent  to  the 
punishment  if  there  be  punishment.  If  the  teacher 
prescribes  a  penalty  that  the  pupil  considers  unjust, 
it  will  do  little  good  to  the  pupil.  The  resentment 
aroused  in  his  breast  by  what  he  considers  unfair 
treatment  drives  out  the  effectiveness  of  the  punish- 
ment. His  heart  will  be  unchanged. 

Hence  it  is  often  wise  to  ask  a  pupil  whether  he 


THROUGH  SELF-GOVERNMENT  43 

considers  a  given  penalty  just,  or  even  to  let  him  fix 
his  own  penalty. 

In  a  certain  school  a  high  school  pupil  whose  con- 
duct was  excellent  in  the  main,  was  constantly  in 
trouble  with  one  of  her  teachers.  There  was  lack  of 
adjustment  between  them,  which  ended  one  day  in 
the  dismissal  of  the  girl  from  the  classroom.  When 
she  came  to  the  office,  the  principal  said, 

"What  can  I  do  for  you?" 

"Mrs.  Blank  sent  me  out  of  the  classroom!" 
'What?  sent  you  out  of  the  classroom?'3 

"Yes." 
'Well,  what  are  you  going  to  do  about  it?': 

No  reply. 

'There  is  something  wrong,"  continued  the  prin- 
cipal, "and  it  should  be  made  right." 

'Well,  I  know  what  I  ought  to  do,"  said  the  girl. 

"Are  you  willing  to  do  it?':  asked  the  principal. 

No  reply. 

"If  you  are  willing  to  go  back  to  the  class  and  do 
what  you  think  you  ought  to  do  to  make  this  matter 
right,  I  shall  be  entirely  satisfied,  and  shall  not  even 
ask  you  what  it  is." 

The  student  agreed.  The  principal  never  learned 
what  she  did;  but  from  that  day  there  was  no  more 
friction  between  that  pupil  and  her  teacher.  It 
was  a  case  of  complete  self-government,  of  self- 
conquest. 

There  are  teachers  who  are  hasty  in  demanding 
apologies  from  their  pupils.  This  requirement  is  the 
source  of  so  much  anxiety,  perplexity,  and  hard  feeling 
that  a  principal  would  be  justified  in  forbidding  any 


44  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

teacher  to  require  an  apology  without  his  consent. 
Too  often  the  demand  for  an  apology  is  made  when 
the  teacher  is  annoyed.  There  is  not  always  a  cool, 
careful  investigation  of  the  case  before  sentence  is 
passed.  The  pupil  is  sent  out  of  the  room  at  once  — 
he  cannot  be  readmitted  without  an  apology;  and 
this  ultimatum  is  made  before  the  other  pupils. 

But  the  principal  finds  the  pupil  unwilling  to  make 
an  apology  because  he  feels  that  none  is  required  by 
the  facts  —  that  he  was  not  guilty  as  charged,  or  at 
least  that  there  were  mitigating  circumstances  — 
others  just  as  guilty  as  he  —  that  would  seem  to  mod- 
ify the  offense.  The  principal  knows  very  well  that 
an  apology  forced  under  such  circumstances  is  merely 
a  matter  of  words,  and  that  it  does  no  good.  He 
wants  to  sustain  the  teacher,  and  yet  he  hesitates  to 
compel  an  apology  especially  because  he  feels  that  the 
teacher  was  hasty.  Finally  the  parents  come  in  and 
insist  that  rather  than  have  their  child  apologize  they 
will  take  him  out  of  school,  or  bring  the  case  before 
the  board  of  education.  There  is  more  excitement  and 
disturbance  in  these  apology  cases  than  in  many 
others  that  might  be  mentioned. 

The  teacher  should  never  prescribe  penalties  at 
once.  She  should  never  at  the  moment  lay  down  the 
conditions  of  readmission  to  her  class.  She  may  in- 
deed dismiss  the  pupil  from  the  room,  but  her  hands 
should  be  free  to  prescribe  what  penalty  is  deemed 
suitable  after  an  unbiased  investigation.  Neither  has 
she  any  right  to  tie  the  hands  of  the  principal.  If 
she  lays  down  her  conditions  in  advance,  he  must 
either  concur  in  them  or  overrule  them;  and  in  his 


THROUGH  SELF-GOVERNMENT  45 

anxiety   to  avoid  the   latter  alternative  he   may   be 
unjust  to  the  pupil. 

The  idea  of  the  self-governed  school  is  that  the 
pupil  should  never  apologize  to  anybody  unless  he 
feels  that  he  ought.  Forced  apologies  are  not  only 
ineffective  but  positively  harmful.  Men  and  women 
never  make  them;  and  it  is  a  blow  to  the  dignity  of 
the  child  to  compel  him  to  do  that  which  he  resents. 
Outside  control  never  reached  a  child  unless  it  led 
in  the  end  to  self-control. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

REACHING  THE  CHILDREN    THROUGH    THE   PRIVATE 

CONVERSATION 

When  all  is  done,  the  help  of  good  counsel  is  that  which  setteth 
business  straight.  —  BACON. 

SOME  years  ago  books  on  school  management  class- 
ified the  several  steps  to  be  taken  in  the  treatment  of 
offenders  in  school.  Among  the  first  suggestions  was 
that  private  reproof  should  precede  public  reproof  - 
that  a  pupil  should  not  be  criticised  before  his  school- 
mates until  he  had  first  been  criticised  privately 
without  avail. 

This  is  good  sense,  and  good  psychology.  We  may 
go  further  and  say  that  there  are  very  few  cases  in- 
deed in  which  public  reproof  is  justifiable.  The  school- 
room is  for  study,  not  for  lecturing.  To  upbraid  a 
pupil  before  the  class  not  only  harasses  the  feelings 
of  all  the  pupils  but  it  takes  the  time  scheduled  for 
work. 

Public  reproof  seldom  reaches  anybody  except  to 
mortify  him.  It  does  not  give  him  higher  motives, 
nor  nobler  resolves.  On  the  contrary,  if  a  pupil  is 
held  up  before  his  classmates  as  a  reprobate,  he  is 
very  apt  to  assume  and  carry  out  the  role  thus 
assigned  him. 

Strictly  speaking,  private  reproof  is  not  a  very  good 


THROUGH  THE  PRIVATE  CONVERSATION         47 

term  to  use.  In  many  cases  no  reproof  at  all  is  neces- 
sary. A  mere  conversation  or  talk  in  private  may 
suffice  —  nay,  more  often  reaches  the  child  than  pri- 
vate reproof.  It  is  not  true  that  every  dereliction  must 
be  punished.  It  is  not  true  that  all  pupils  sometimes 
need  a  scolding.  What  is  true  is  that  pupils  who 
have  gone  wrong  must  be  led  to  go  right;  and  this 
can  be  done  much  better  by  persuasion  than  by 
criticism. 

A  superintendent  once  asked  a  teacher  in  a  rural 
school  to  call  out  and  teach  her  lowest  class  in  read- 
ing. She  summoned  the  class,  and  three  pupils  came 
forward,  two  about  six  years  old  and  one  about  ten. 
Before  beginning  the  recitation  the  teacher  said  in  a 
loud  voice  (the  superintendent  was  in  the  rear  of  the 
room),  "Mr.  Blank,  this  large  pupil  is  the  most  stupid 
boy  I  have  ever  seen.  I  have  tried  my  best,  and  can't 
get  anything  into  him."  When  the  superintendent 
had  completed  his  visit,  he  spoke  to  the  teacher 
about  the  boy.  He  said,  "Don't  you  think  that  boy 
felt  hurt  to  be  held  up  as  a  dunce  before  his  super- 
intendent in  the  presence  of  his  classmates?'  She 
said,  "Oh,  no,  that  didn't  make  any  difference." 
"But,"  said  the  superintendent,  "if  at  our  next  county 
institute  I  should  ask  you  to  stand  up  before  all  the 
assembled  teachers,  and  should  state  thus  publicly 
that  you  are  the  dullest  teacher  I  have  ever  seen  — 
how  would  you  like  that?':  "Oh,  that's  something 
entirely  different,"  was  her  reply. 

"Not  at  all,"  said  the  superintendent,  "that  boy 
has  feelings  just  as  you  have.  To  be  pronounced  a 
hopeless  dunce  before  his  superintendent  and  his  class- 


48  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

mates  was  a  mortification  for  which  he  will  never  for- 
give you,  and  it  was  an  injury  from  which  he  may 


never  recover." 


Go  into  many  schoolrooms,  and  you  will  find  too 
much  public  criticism,  too  much  fault-finding,  too 
much  correction,  too  much  projection  of  superiority 
on  the  part  of  the  teacher.  Every  school  should  be  a 
cooperative  society  —  everybody  working  together  for 
the  good  of  the  whole  and  of  each  individual  —  under 
the  guidance  of  its  most  mature  member,  the  teacher. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  the  teacher  to  wait  until 
some  offence  has  been  committed  before  she  has  a 
private  conversation  with  her  pupils.  After  the  first 
week  of  school  she  would  do  well  to  select  a  pupil  and 
make  an  appointment  to  have  a  talk  with  him  alone. 
In  this  talk  she  should  strive  to  gain  his  friendship  — 
to  study  his  disposition,  to  learn  about  his  aims  in  life 
and  his  conditions.  He  will  reveal  himself  to  her  in 
private,  whereas  he  would  say  little  or  nothing  in 
public.  The  teacher  who  asks  a  pupil  questions  before 
his  classmates  in  regard  to  his  personal  life  shows  bad 
manners  herself  and  violates  the  sanctity  of  privacy. 
Even  in  the  private  conversation  her  inquiries  have 
natural  limits.  But  if  she  shows  good  judgment  a 
bond  of  sympathy  will  spring  up  that  will  go  far  to 
prevent  the  occurrence  of  any  trouble  in  the  future. 
Moreover,  she  can  give  him  some  bits  of  advice  — 
not  too  much,  for  this  conversation  should  not  be  a 
confessional  —  and  can  learn  wherein  he  needs  help. 

When  offences  arise  in  the  schoolroom,  nothing 
should  be  said  about  them  if  possible;  but  some  time 
during  the  day  the  offender  should  be  asked  privately 


THROUGH  THE  PRIVATE  CONVERSATION         49 

to  remain  after  school.  Then  the  teacher  should  take 
him  to  a  private  room,  or  exclude  everybody  from  her 
classroom,  and  in  a  calm  and  indeed  sympathetic 
manner  should  inquire  into  the  circumstances  of  the 
offence.  The  pupil  should  be  given  a  full  opportunity 
to  state  his  case.  The  teacher  should  not  "go  at 
him"  in  a  critical  spirit,  but  in  the  spirit  of  an  in- 
quirer. Then  she  should  show  the  pupil  just  why  the 
act  was  wrong,  after  which,  if  he  sees  it,  she  can 
usually  count  on  his  amendment  without  scolding  or 
even  without  his  making  a  formal  promise. 

Teachers  should  remember,  and  freely  admit,  first, 
that  we  ask  too  much  when  we  expect  pupils  to  be 
perfect;  and  secondly,  that  we  adults  are  not  perfect. 
The  teacher  who  governs  her  pupils  on  the  basis  of 
what  they  ought  to  be  is  not  as  wise  as  she  who  takes 
as  her  basis  the  pupils  as  they  are.  Teachers  who  say, 
"Pupils  ought  not  to  have  a  false  code  of  honor," 
should  be  met  by  the  statement, "You  and  I  should 
also  not  have  a  false  code  in  anything." 

In  a  certain  high  school  the  pupils  were  requested 
to  describe  the  best  teacher  they  had  ever  had,  and 
tell  why  they  liked  her.  When  these  papers  came  in, 
it  was  interesting  to  see  that  in  a  large  majority  of 
instances  the  statement  was  made,  "I  liked  her  be- 
cause she  was  fair."  Children  have  a  very  keen  sense 
of  justice  and  injustice;  and  though  a  strong  teacher 
can  stifie  the  manifestation  of  their  resentment  when 
she  is  unjust  to  them,  she  cannot  smother  the  feel- 
ing, and  she  can  never  reach  them  as  long  as  that 
feeling  persists. 

In  the  private  conversation  the  teacher  must  show 


50  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

a  spirit  of  absolute  fairness  toward  the  pupil.  She 
must  therefore  be  in  a  proper  frame  of  mind  when  the 
interview  takes  place.  If  she  is  to  act  as  judge  she 
must  be  as  impartial  and  unprejudiced  as  a  judge. 
Hence  an  interview  regarding  an  offence  should  in 
some  cases  not  be  held  until  a  day  or  more  has 
elapsed  —  not  until  the  teacher  feels  that  she  can 
administer  exact  justice.  When  the  pupil  can  feel  in 
the  atmosphere  of  the  room  that  he  will  get  a  "square 
deal,"  conditions  are  appropriate  for  a  valuable  inter- 
change of  ideas. 

Mr.  Edward  Howard  Griggs,  in  his  book  on  "Moral 
Education,"  has  pointed  out  that  treatment  of  a  pupil 
for  an  offence  should  follow  the  method  of  a  physi- 
cian treating  a  patient.  The  interview  should  be 
private.  The  teacher  should  inquire  into  the  history 
of  the  pupil  to  see  whether  there  is  anything  in  his 
ancestry  to  account  for  the  trouble.  Then  she  should 
inquire  into  the  conditions  that  brought  about  the 
offence.  Next  there  should  be  an  examination  of  the 
offence  itself.  Lastly,  there  should  be  such  treatment 
as  will  cure  the  offence. 

Too  often  teachers  make  no  diagnosis  of  a  case, 
but  prescribe  purely  on  the  basis  of  external  symptoms. 
And  too  often  they  use  the  patent  medicine  treat- 
ment, namely  that  a  certain  remedy  is  always  good  for 
all  people.  Of  course  we  know  that  rarely  does  the 
wise  physician  prescribe  the  same  remedy  for  the 
same  disease.  It  all  depends  on  the  condition  of 
the  patient. 

Just  as  a  physician  cannot  reach  the  seat  of  a  dis- 
ease without  a  diagnosis,  and  just  as  he  must  give 


THROUGH  THE  PRIVATE  CONVERSATION        51 

individual  prescriptions  for  the  same  disease,  so  the 
teacher  cannot  reach  the  pupils  unless  she  has  ade- 
quate knowledge  of  the  pupils'  heredity,  environment, 
physical  and  mental  make  up,  and  unless  she  gives 
such  treatment  as  will  be  exactly  adapted  to  the 
individual  under  consideration. 

When  a  pupil  appears  before  the  teacher  to  answer 
for  an  offence,  the  teacher  should  remember  the  many 
functions  in  which  she  is  clothed.  Probably  she  made 
the  laws  which  have  been  broken.  Now  she  is  not 
only  judge,  but  also  jury,  counsel  for  the  prosecution, 
and  executioner.  Against  this  formidable  array  of 
functions  there  is  only  the  ten  year  old  boy.  A  judge 
must  be  absolutely  unbiased.  He  must  see  that  the 
prisoner  gets  all  his  rights  —  gets  a  fair  trial  in  all 
respects.  Is  the  teacher  always  as  unbiased  against 
an  offending  pupil  as  is  a  judge  against  a  man  on  trial 
for  murder?  Having  in  the  nature  of  things  so  many 
roles,  the  teacher  would  do  well  to  assume  one  more, 
namely,  counsel  for  the  defence!  Give  the  boy  a  fair 
chance  to  say  what  he  can  in  his  favor.  If  he  can 
bring  any  witnesses  to  assist  him,  by  all  means  let 
them  be  summoned.  Furthermore,  counsel  for  the 
defence  would  bring  out  in  court  the  extenuating  cir- 
cumstances —  a  hot  temper,  poor  home  surroundings, 
bad  associates,  immaturity,  the  probability  of  refor- 
mation if  sentence  were  suspended.  Let  these  points 
be  brought  out  by  the  teacher  in  the  boy's  behalf. 
And  just  as  the  prisoner  in  court  is  presumed  to  be 
innocent  until  he  is  proven  guilty,  so  the  youthful 
offender  must  not  be  prejudged. 

The   purpose  of   this  endeavor   to  be   fair  is   not 


52  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

only  that  justice  may  prevail,  but  that  the  pupil  shall 
recognize  in  the  teacher  a  friend  who  is  fair,  and  who 
is  willing  to  give  him  the  benefit  of  the  doubt.  Then 
the  teacher  can  reach  the  pupil  who  heretofore  may 
have  closed  his  heart  to  her. 

The  desire  of  the  teacher  to  be  fair  in  these  pri- 
vate conversations  is  often  sadly  embarrassed  by  a 
pupil's  previous  bad  reputation.  A  principal  was  in 
his  office  one  morning  when  a  teacher,  looking  out  of 
the  window,  exclaimed,  "Here  comes  Charley  Blank! 
He  was  expelled  from  school,  then  expelled  from  the 
navy,  and  now  he  is  coming  back  to  school!" 

The  principal  had  never  met  this  young  man,  who 
was  then  eighteen;  but  immediately  he  put  him  down 
in  his  own  mind  as  a  pupil  who  needed  watching. 
To  every  movement  the  principal  attached  signifi- 
cance. Very  soon  the  principal  reprimanded  him  in 
the  presence  of  the  pupils.  A  few  days  later  the  boy 
went  home  because  a  classmate  had  been  sent  home. 
He  was  called  in  for  a  private  conversation.  The 
principal  began  in  a  severe  tone.  The  boy  answered 
coolly,  indeed  manfully.  He  explained  that,  in  the 
navy,  the  code  of  honor  demanded  that  if  one  were 
punished  the  others  should  "take  their  medicine"  too. 
In  that  conversation  the  principal  learned  that 
Charley  was  not  wholly  bad  —  that  he  had  rather 
low  ideals,  to  be  sure;  not  always  a  sense  of  the  fit- 
ness of  things,  but  that  he  meant  fairly  well.  The 
upshot  of  that  conversation  was  the  formation  of  a 
better  understanding,  and  indeed  of  a  friendship  that 
led  to  "smooth  sailing"  as  long  as  the  young  man 
continued  in  school. 


THROUGH   THE  PRIVATE  CONVERSATION       53 

The  new  teacher  should  as  much  as  possible  close 
her  ears  to  unfavorable  information  about  any  of  her 
pupils.  It  will  inevitably  affect  her  attitude  toward 
a  pupil  if  she  has  formed  a  prejudice  against  him  in 
advance.  If  a  patient  goes  from  one  physician  to 
another,  the  latter  always  makes  his  diagnosis  for 
himself,  and  does  not  accept  that  made  by  the  former. 
Every  pupil  coming  to  school  should  be  admitted  with 
a  clean  slate. 

In  some  graded  schools  teachers  make  notes  in  re- 
gard to  their  children  during  the  year,  and  send  them 
to  the  next  teacher  in  the  fall.  This  is  an  excellent 
plan  provided  there  are  no  notes  reflecting  on  the 
pupils'  conduct.  Since  so  much  of  misconduct  is 
caused  by  lack  of  adjustment,  it  may  be  that  the  new 
teacher,  if  unhampered,  may  be  able  in  her  way  to 
make  the  adjustment  at  once.  At  any  rate,  the  pupil 
does  not  get  a  fair  chance  with  the  new  teacher  if 
his  past  offences  are  spread  out  before  her  eyes  at  the 
beginning  of  the  term. 

It  is  thus  plain  that  the  private  conversation,  con- 
ducted with  judicial  fairness  and  with  sympathy,  is 
one  of  the  most  effective  means  of  reaching  the  pupils 
that  the  teacher  can  employ.  Whatever  power  there 
may  be  of  mind  over  mind  is  here  active.  The  ad- 
mitted power  of  sympathy  is  here  exerted.  No  better 
conditions  for  influencing  pupils  can  be  secured  than 
the  privacy  of  this  conference;  and  the  effect  is  most 
powerful  because  it  flows  from  heart  to  heart. 


CHAPTER  IX 

REACHING    THE    CHILDREN    THROUGH 
ENCOURAGEMENT 

And  many  strokes,  though  with  a  little  ax, 
Hew  down  and  fell  the  hardest  timbered  oak. 

—  SHAKESPEARE. 

Imagination  rules  the  world!  —  NAPOLEON. 

I  can  do  whatever  I  will  to  do.  —  "STONEWALL"  JACKSON. 

THE  word  encouragement  literally  means  ;<  putting 
heart  into."  To  encourage  some  one  is  to  put  heart 
into  him.  A  person  is  encouraged  when  his  heart  is 
out  of  him.  We  say  of  an  ambitious,  rising  young 
man,  "His  heart  is  in  his  work";  while  we  say  of  a 
person  who  is  failing,  "His  heart  is  not  in  his  work." 

Just  as  no  adult  succeeds  whose  heart  is  not  in  his 
work,  so  no  pupil  succeeds  if  his  heart  is  not  in  his 
work.  A  child  does  not  win  at  play  if  his  heart  is  not 
in  it.  A  baseball  team  is  beaten  before  the  game 
starts  if  the  players  are  disheartened.  There  is  not  a 
walk  in  life  above  pure  drudgery  in  which  success  is 
not  conditioned  on  the  amount  of  "heart"  that  is  put 
into  one's  work.  A  high  order  of  intellect  without 
"heart"  cannot  equal  the  accomplishment  of  a  lower 
order  of  intellect  plus  "heart." 

If  a  pupil  moves  along  in  his  studies  in  a  careless 
or  perfunctory  manner,  and  the  teacher  succeeds  by 


THROUGH  ENCOURAGEMENT  55 

some  means  in  putting  "heart"  into  him,  it  trans- 
forms his  life.  He  becomes  energetic,  alert,  eager, 
ambitious.  His  class  standing  rises  rapidly.  His  de- 
portment will  be  entirely  satisfactory.  In  other 
words,  if  the  teacher  has  reached  the  pupil,  she  has 
performed  for  him  the  greatest  service  that  one 
person  can  render  to  another. 

Some  years  ago  a  boy  in  a  certain  high  school  was 
a  year  behind  his  class.  His  record  up  to  the  end  of 
the  second  year  was  one  of  great  carelessness  in  work 
and  in  conduct.  The  principal  felt,  however,  that 
this  boy  was  naturally  bright.  He  had  several  pri- 
vate interviews  with  him.  One  day  he  said,  "Charles, 
you  are  bright  enough  to  go  to  college.  You  have  no 
means  of  your  own,  and  there  are  no  means  in  your 
family;  but  I  know  a  man  who  sings  in  the  same 
choir  with  you,  who  has  means,  and  would  very  likely 
be  willing  to  send  you  through  college  if  I  could  go 
to  him  and  vouch  for  your  excellence  as  a  student 
and  your  worth  as  a  young  man.  But  I  suppose  you 
realize  that  at  present  I  cannot  do  this." 

"I  know  you  can't,"  said  the  boy. 

"But  I  should  like  to  do  so,"  said  the  principal. 

This  was  in  June.  Nothing  more  was  said  until  the 
fall.  Then  the  head  teacher  in  the  high  school  came 
to  the  principal  one  day  in  great  amusement,  and  said, 
"What  do  you  think  —  Charles  says  he  is  going  to 
do  two  years'  work  in  one,  and  graduate  next  June!' 

"Well,"  said  the  principal,  "Let  him  run  his  head 
against  the  proposition  and  see  what  comes  of  it." 

Charles  took  five  studies  in  class,  and  was  given 
permission  to  pursue  three  at  his  home  and  take 


56  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

monthly  tests  therein.  This  was  a  heavy  program; 
but  what  was  the  surprise  of  the  teachers  when  month 
after  month  this  boy  stood  very  high  not  only  in  his 
class  work  but  in  his  monthly  tests  in  all  subjects; 
and  to  cap  the  climax  he  took  two  studies  beyond  the 
requirement,  and  passed  in  them  also.  In  one  year 
this  boy,  who  had  formerly  been  so  indifferent,  passed 
with  credit  in  ten  subjects  whereas  the  regular  number 
for  one  year  was  only  four.  And  as  a  by-product 
his  conduct,  which  had  formerly  been  very  unsatis- 
factory, was  now  equal  to  the  best  in  the  class. 

It  remains  to  be  said  that  the  boy  was  sent  to  col- 
lege by  the  method  first  suggested  by  the  principal; 
and  while  the  death  of  his  benefactor  cut  his  course 
short  before  graduation,  yet  that  young  man  has  made 
a  success  in  engineering  work,  and  is  a  good  citizen. 

Teachers  know  what  a  good  effect  on  them  a  kind 
word  from  their  superintendent  or  principal  produces. 
If  he  visits  their  rooms  several  times  a  week  for  a 
year  and  never  expresses  satisfaction  with  what  he 
sees,  the  teacher  is  in  a  state  of  uncertainty  and  per- 
plexity. She  does  not  feel  comfortable.  She  cannot 
pursue  her  work  with  assurance.  Altogether  she  is 
not  in  a  proper  frame  of  mind  to  do  her  best  work. 

The  same  is  true  of  a  pupil.  He,  as  well  as  the 
teacher,  is  hungry  for  the  kind  word.  The  'well 
done"  of  the  teacher  is  just  as  important  to  him  as  is 
the  "well  done"  of  the  superintendent  to  the  teacher. 
It  puts  "heart"  into  him.  He  feels  that  the  teacher 
appreciates  his  efforts  and  his  success,  all  of  which 
will  stimulate  him  to  greater  exertion. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  in  many  schools  the  pupils 


THROUGH  ENCOURAGEMENT  57 

who  least  need  encouragement  get  the  most,  while 
those  who  need  it  most  get  the  least.  A  child  whose 
work  is  well-nigh  perfect  already  has  her  heart  in  it. 
She  is  already  full  of  zeal.  But  the  poor  little  fellow 
who  is  at  the  foot  of  the  class  seldom  gets  the  en- 
couraging word  though  he  is  in  desperate  need  of  it, 
and  his  salvation  may  depend  upon  it. 

The  reader  will  at  once  think,  "How  is  it  possible 
to  encourage  a  boy  when  there  is  no  work  that  is 
worthy  of  commendation?'  There  are  several  ways 
of  approaching  the  matter.  In  the  first  place,  he 
may  be  trying  in  some  subject.  If  so,  his  effort  is 
worthy  of  praise.  He  may  even  show  flashes  of  good 
work  which  may  be  properly  appreciated.  He  may 
excel  in  manual  training  or  in  baseball.  Whatever 
it  is,  the  teacher  should  take  occasion  to  mention 
it  before  the  school. 

In  the  second  place,  the  pupil  may  have  received  a 
mark  of  twenty  in  arithmetic  last  week,  and  forty 
this  week.  Here  is  an  improvement  of  one  hundred 
per  cent  —  a  remarkable  step  in  advance.  This  is 
certainly  worthy  of  commendation.  It  is  an  occasion 
for  killing  the  fatted  calf. 

In  the  third  place,  the  teacher  may  put  "  heart " 
into  this  pupil  by  telling  him  of  other  persons  who 
stood  very  low  in  their  classes  at  school,  yet  who 
afterwards  became  famous,  such  as  Isaac  Newton, 
Walter  Scott,  and  others.  And  the  teacher  may  say, 
'You  can  do  precisely  as  much  as  they  did  as  stu- 
dents. You  can  do  the  best  you  can.  No  man  living 
or  dead  ever  did  more.  Put  forth  your  best  efforts, 
and  you  will  win  at  last."  By  these  three  means 


58  REACHING   THE  CHILDREN 

and  others  like  them  there  is  an  ample  field  for  the 
encouragement  of  dull  pupils. 

When  Benjamin  West,  the  great  painter,  was  a  little 
boy,  his  mother  placed  in  his  care  his  baby  brother 
while  she  left  the  house  on  a  matter  of  business. 
When  she  returned  an  hour  later  she  found  that  Ben- 
jamin had  amused  himself  in  the  interim  by  drawing 
on  paper  a  picture  of  the  baby  as  it  lay  in  the  cradle. 
The  mother  was  delighted,  and  so  expressed  herself. 
In  after  years  he  said,  "My  mother's  kiss  made  me  a 
painter." 

All  experience  says  to  superintendents  in  their  re- 
lations with  teachers,  "Find  something  to  praise!' 
All  experience  says  to  teachers  in  their  relations  with 
pupils,  "Find  something  to  praise!'5  Many  a  teacher 
who  has  great  difficulty  with  her  classes  has  been 
saved  by  a  superintendent  who  has  said,  "I  have 
absolute  confidence  that  you  have  it  in  you  to  succeed. 
You  are  weak  in  these  several  respects,  but  who  is 
not  weak  in  some  respects?  Now  pluck  up  your 
courage  and  go  at  things  with  confidence.  You  may 
not  succeed  at  once,  but  if  you  only  get  a  start  now 
and  improve  on  it  you  will  be  going  in  the  right 
direction."  And  if  this  teacher  does  give  signs  of  im- 
provement, and  the  superintendent  speaks  of  them 
and  says,  *  That's  the  way!"  she  will  go  forward  on 
the  wings  of  his  encouragement. 

Even  more  can  be  done  in  this  way  with  a  dull 
pupil  than  with  a  teacher.  He  will  do  nothing  unless 
he  has  the  confidence  of  somebody.  Criticism  will  only 
confirm  his  habit  of  failure.  Demotion  or  punishment 
will  not  lift  him  up.  Driving  seldom  is  of  any  value. 


THROUGH  ENCOURAGEMENT  59 

There  must  be  some  force  that  pulls  him  upward,  and 
that  force  is  encouragement. 

A  business  man  prominent  in  three  states  said  not 
long  ago:  "While  I  live,  I  shall  never  forget  the  debt 

I  owe  to  Mr. ,  an  obscure  country  teacher.  As 

a  child  I  stammered.  When  I  entered  school,  the 
pupils  made  fun  of  me.  When  I  rose  to  read,  I  be- 
came so  self-conscious  that  I  could  not  read  at  all. 
After  some  years  of  misery,  with  no  improvement, 

Mr. came  to  be  our  teacher.  The  first  time  I 

tried  to  read  for  him  I  began  to  stammer  badly;  but 
in  a  kindly  voice  he  told  me  to  wait  a  moment,  see 
clearly  what  I  wanted  to  read,  and  not  to  hurry. 
With  these  directions  there  was  at  once  a  great  im- 
provement. He  kept  me  after  school  by  myself  and 
gave  me  practice  in  reading.  Later  he  encouraged  me 
to  take  the  examinations  for  a  teacher's  certificate. 
I  passed,  and  began  to  teach.  I  feel  that  my  whole 
life  was  more  benefited  by  the  encouragement  of 
that  humble  teacher  than  by  all  other  influences 
combined." 

It  is  in  this  phase  of  character  development  that 
the  school  library  is  of  great  importance.  Nothing 
helps  a  young  person  who  has  a  hard  struggle  as  much 
as  reading  or  learning  of  others  who  had  the  same  adver- 
sities. Their  success  gives  him  the  encouragement  he 
needs  for  his  own  success.  The  teacher  can  also  assist 
in  this  matter  by  the  helpful  word,  the  sympathetic 
manner,  and  especially  by  the  attitude  that  shows 
the  pupil  that  she  understands. 

In  a  certain  school  a  ten  year  old  boy  came  from 
a  home  in  which  he  heard  much  profanity.  He  was  so 


60  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

accustomed  to  it  that  he  used  it  himself  without 
thinking.  One  day  at  school  while  at  play  the  teacher 
overheard  him  using  a  profane  word.  He  corrected 
him  sternly,  saying  that  another  like  offence  would 
lead  to  severe  punishment.  Some  two  weeks  later  the 
same  offence  did  occur,  and  the  boy  was  whipped. 

On  analysis  it  would  seem  as  if  this  teacher  not 
only  did  the  pupil  a  great  injustice,  but  used  exactly 
the  wrong  method  to  reach  the  boy.  If  on  the  first 
occasion  he  had  said,  "My  dear  boy,  I  heard  you 
swearing  just  now,  perhaps  unconsciously.  I  know 
how  much  swearing  you  hear  at  your  home,  and  I 
have  been  surprised  that  you  are  doing  so  well.  This 
is  the  first  time  I  have  heard  you  swear  in  these 
two  weeks.  Now  let  us  see  whether  you  can  do  as 
well  the  next  week."  And  if  the  offence  was  repeated 
in  two  weeks,  the  teacher  might  well  have  said,  "You 
are  doing  nobly !  Once  in  two  weeks  is  very  much  less 
than  I  could  have  done  under  the  same  circumstances. 
Of  course,  swearing  is  wrong,  especially  at  school; 
but  if  you  keep  on  you  will  overcome  the  habit  en- 
tirely!'' By  means  of  appreciation  for  what  pupils 
do  not  do,  as  well  as  for  what  they  do,  we  can  often 
produce  results  in  character  building  that  the  most 
severe  punishments  fail  to  secure. 

Another  means  of  encouraging  pupils  in  their  school 
progress  is  by  a  preservation  of  the  pupil's  work  from 
time  to  time,  and  its  comparison  with  that  which  is 
done  later.  For  instance,  at  the  opening  of  school  the 
teacher  asks  all  pupils  to  write  in  their  best  hand  a 
stanza  of  poetry.  Near  the  end  of  the  term  she  gives 
the  same  exercise.  Then  she  compares  the  first  ex- 


THROUGH  ENCOURAGEMENT  61 

ercise  with  the  second.  The  improvement  in  most 
cases  is  much  greater  than  the  teacher  herself  realizes. 
This  encourages  the  teacher  as  well  as  the  pupils.  Of 
course  the  same  comparisons  can  be  made  in  all 
written  work. 

A  very  powerful  assistant  in  imbuing  children  with 
encouragement  is  to  remove  the  causes  of  discourage- 
ment. If  non-promotion  has  taken  the  heart  out  of  a 
pupil,  promote  him  on  trial.  He  will  surely  do  no 
worse  after  the  advance  than  before,  and  he  may  do 
much  better.  At  any  rate  he  is  likely  to  get  more 
good  out  of  the  advanced  class  than  out  of  the  regu- 
lar grade.  Promotions  must  never  fail  to  take  into 
account  psychological  effects. 

In  some  high  schools  a  pupil  begins  a  certain  study 
and  finds  he  does  not  like  it  and  cannot  do  it.  If  he 
needs  that  study  in  his  future  course,  he  must  natur- 
ally make  the  best  of  it;  but  if  he  does  not  need  it, 
the  question  arises  whether  he  should  be  allowed  to 
drop  it.  Some  teachers  will  not  permit  the  dropping 
of  any  subject  or  a  change  of  course  after  say  two 
months  of  the  term  have  expired.  There  are  pupils 
whose  marks  in  such  study  have  shown  a  failure  for 
ten  months  in  succession.  This  is  surely  training  in 
failure.  The  pupil  has  gained  nothing;  but  in  addi- 
tion to  the  habit  of  failure  he  has  lived  in  an  atmos- 
phere of  discouragement  for  a  year  —  enough  to  break 
the  spirit  of  anybody.  Psychology  says,  "Give  the 
student  what  he  can  do,  and  if  he  undertakes  some- 
thing and  after  thorough  trial  finds  he  cannot  do  it, 
give  him  something  else  that  he  can  master."  We 
grow  by  success,  and  not  by  failure.  No  man  can 


62  REACHING   THE  CHILDREN 

put  his  heart  into  any  work  that  is  forever  beyond 
his  strength. 

Other  sources  of  discouragement  are  mentioned  else- 
where. Unfavorable  criticism  takes  the  heart  out  of 
pupils.  The  offering  of  rewards  takes  the  heart  out 
of  pupils  who  do  not  get  them.  Comparing  a  pupil 
from  a  poor  and  ignorant  home  with  another  from  a 
fine  home  discourages  the  former.  The  teacher  should 
never  compare  one  pupil  with  another.  The  only 
proper  comparison  is  of  one  pupil  with  himself. 

Excessively  long  or  difficult  lessons  are  a  source  of 
discouragement.  Not  long  ago  a  man  who  is  an  ex- 
pert accountant  in  the  New  York  office  of  the  Stand- 
ard Oil  Company  sat  down  one  evening  at  eight 
o'clock  to  help  his  twelve  year  old  daughter  work 
her  arithmetic  problems.  After  an  hour  he  sent  her 
to  bed;  and  it  was  not  until  after  midnight  that  he 
finished  the  task  himself.  Surely  this  teacher  did 
not  realize  how  much  he  was  requiring  of  his  pupils. 

The  constant  study  of  the  teacher  should  therefore 
be,  "How  can  I  take  away  all  elements  that  tend  to 
discourage  my  pupils?  —  What  elements  can  I  bring 
to  bear  that  will  encourage  my  pupils?'  By  this 
positive  and  negative  study  she  cannot  only  secure 
enthusiasm  in  school  lessons,  but  can  exert  a  strong 
uplift  on  the  lives  of  the  children. 


CHAPTER  X 

REACHING  THE  CHILDREN  THROUGH  TALKS  BY 

THE  TEACHER 

Every  thought  which  genius  and  piety  throw  into  the  world, 
alters  the  world.  —  EMERSON  —  Politics. 

A  thought  often  makes  us  hotter  than  a  fire.  —  LONGFELLOW 

—  Table-Talk. 

They  are  never  alone  who  are  accompanied  with  noble  thoughts. 

—  SIDNEY  —  Arcadia. 

Nurture  your  mind  with  great  thoughts.  —  DISRAELI. 
Thought  once  awakened  does  not  again  slumber.  —  CARLTLE. 

IN  some  schools  it  is  the  custom  for  the  principal 
to  address  the  pupils  in  assembly  from  fifteen  to 
twenty  minutes  every  week.  There  is  much  testi- 
mony to  show  that  this  weekly  exercise  may  be  of 
great  value  in  reaching  the  pupils. 

A  prominent  man  once  said  that  during  his  school 
days  the  principal  gave  weekly  talks  on  a  variety  of 
subjects,  and  that  he  derived  more  benefit  from  them 
than  from  his  school  studies. 

A  mother  who  had  a  boy  at  high  school  was  some- 
what perplexed  because  he  did  not  seem  to  show  any 
earnestness  of  purpose.  He  was  not  a  bad  boy,  but 
he  did  not  seem  to  take  life  at  all  seriously,  and  did 
not  show  any  ambition  as  to  his  future.  But  one  day 


64  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

the  mother  said  to  a  neighbor,  "There  has  been  a 
very  remarkable  change  in  John's  attitude  toward  life 
since  last  month.  Something  that  his  school  princi- 
pal said  in  his  weekly  talk  struck  the  right  spot  in 
him,  and  he  is  now  all  I  could  desire.  He  is  full  of 
ambition,  and  I  feel  that  we  have  no  more  to  worry 
about."  That  young  man  not  only  made  a  creditable 
record  at  high  school,  but  graduated  with  honor  from 
Pratt  Institute,  and  is  a  fine  man  in  every  respect. 
Surely  if  all  the  morning  talks  of  that  whole  year  had 
resulted  in  nothing  more  than  in  reaching  this  young 
man,  they  would  have  been  amply  justified. 

Especially  in  high  schools  it  seems  important  that 
the  principal  should  set  forth  before  the  pupils  his  ideals 
of  life.  He  is  presumed  to  have  high  aims,  and  be 
old  enough  to  have  had  experience  and  observation. 
The  pupils  have  vague  ideals,  or  improper  ideals,  and 
they  need  not  only  to  have  right  ideals  set  before 
them,  but  they  must  be  inspired  to  pursue  them. 

This  work  should,  however,  not  be  confined  to  high 
schools.  In  some  respects  these  talks  are  more  needed 
in  rural  schools  than  in  high  schools.  The  latter  are 
usually  situated  in  towns,  in  which  are  found  many 
kinds  of  institutions  for  social  and  personal  uplift; 
while  the  rural  schools  are  often  remote  from  all  such 
institutions.  Pupils  who  attend  these  schools  seldom 
hear  an  inspiring  talk  unless  it  is  given  to  them 
by  their  teacher.  In  many  cases  they  will  get  no 
high  ideals  of  life  if  the  teacher  does  not  set  them 
forth.  It  is  a  great  thing  for  a  pupil  to  be  brought 
face  to  face  with  the  meaning  of  life,  so  that  he  may 
go  on  his  way  with  a  purpose,  and  not  wander  aim- 


THROUGH  TALKS  BY  THE  TEACHER      65 

lessly  along.     There  is  no  agency  better  calculated  to 
accomplish  this  result  than  the  weekly  talk. 

The  teacher  who  undertakes  to  give  these  talks 
should  herself  be  inspired  with  a  high  moral  purpose. 
She  must  be  thoroughly  in  earnest.  Her  presentation 
of  moral  subjects  must  be  the  natural  outflow  of  her 
own  life.  If  the  pupils  get  a  suspicion  that  the 
teacher  is  not  herself  trying  to  live  up  to  the  ideals 
she  sets  forth  she  will  do  more  harm  than  good  by 
her  talks,  because  she  will  in  their  eyes  be  a  hypocrite; 
and  from  this  example  pupils  will  gradually  get  the 
idea  that  all  seemingly  good  people  are  hypocrites. 

These  talks  should  be  thoroughly  prepared  by  the 
teacher.  She  should  choose  her  subject  with  care, 
then  plan  the  talk  so  as  to  make  it  interesting  and 
pertinent  to  the  pupils,  and  if  necessary  write  out 
some  of  the  sentences  so  as  to  make  them  as  strong  as 
possible.  Of  course  she  must  use  no  manuscript  in 
giving  the  talk,  nor  must  she  use  any  of  the  ridic- 
ulous gesticulations  and  expressions  that  at  one  time 
masqueraded  under  the  name  of  elocution.  She  must 
be  as  simple  and  natural  as  possible  —  there  must  be 
no  assuming  of  airs,  nor  must  there  be  any  formality 
in  the  occasion. 

White's  "School  Management'*  contains  a  very  full 
list  of  subjects  for  these  talks,  with  stories,  poems, 
and  illustrations  to  make  them  effective.  This  book 
contains  enough  material  for  a  year.  It  also  gives 
suggestions  for  its  use.  Another  helpful  book  is 
Shearer's  "Morals  and  Manners." 

This  may  be  a  good  place  to  call  attention  to  the 
fact  that,  in  this  work,  the  teacher  should  endeavor 


66  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

to  give  inspiration  to  girls  as  well  as  to  boys.  It  is  a 
curious  fact  that  nearly  everybody  who  addresses 
pupils  confines  himself  to  boys.  He  tells  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  and  George  Washington  —  of  Gladstone, 
Cromwell,  Andrew  Jackson  —  of  boys  he  knew  who 
worked  their  way  amid  great  difficulties;  but  did 
you  ever  hear  a  speaker  tell  of  girls  who  likewise 
worked  their  way?  And  he  will  urge  all  the  pupils, 
boys  and  girls,  to  take  Lincoln  as  an  example!  Is 
this  because  girls  have  never  risen  amid  difficulties., 
because  they  are  not  supposed  to  rise  under  any  cir- 
cumstances, or  because  they  do  not  need  any  inspir- 
ation? Surely  this  cannot  be  the  reason.  It  is, 
rather,  because  we  have  become  accustomed  to  the 
presentation  of  the  male  ideal. 

Every  time,  therefore,  that  the  teacher  talks  to 
pupils  about  some  fine  man  and  holds  him  up  as  an 
example,  she  should  on  the  next  occasion  set  forth  the 
life  of  a  fine  woman  as  an  example.  You  do  not  want 
your  girl  to  grow  up  to  be  an  ideal  man  any  more 
than  you  want  your  boy  to  become  an  ideal  woman. 

The  teacher  will  do  well  to  illustrate  her  talks  as 
much  as  possible  by  stories  of  living  persons  known 
to  pupils  either  personally  or  by  reputation.  It  is  a 
question  whether  a  story  of  Socrates  will  take  hold  of 
a  pupil  as  effectively  as  a  story  of  some  humbler  man 
or  woman  living  a  life  of  usefulness  today.  In  the 
state  or  county  on  which  the  pupil  lives  there  are  fine 
people  of  whom  he  has  heard,  and  who  are  therefore 
more  within  his  ken  than  the  ancient  Greeks;  and  he 
will  be  much  more  likely  to  find  inspiration  in  them 
than  in  persons  living  far  away  or  in  ancient  times. 


THROUGH  TALKS  BY  THE  TEACHER      67 

For  example:  One  of  the  leading  trained  nurses  in 
a  certain  city  was  once  a  girl  in  a  remote  rural  section 
of  the  state.  On  account  of  the  death  of  her  mother 
she  had  to  leave  school  at  the  age  of  fifteen  to  assume 
charge  of  a  large  family.  Her  father  did  not  believe 
in  the  education  of  girls,  so  he  designed  her  for  his 
housekeeper.  One  by  one  he  educated  his  boys,  but 
her  turn  never  came  to  go  away  to  school.  But  she 
too  was  ambitious;  and  when  she  became  twenty-one, 
knowing  that  her  father  had  means  to  secure  a  house- 
keeper, she  determined  to  strike  out  for  herself.  She 
entered  a  hospital  to  study  nursing,  supported  herself, 
graduated  from  a  four-year  course,  and  soon  became 
one  of  the  very  efficient  nurses  of  a  large  city. 

This  is  a  story  which,  if  told  to  pupils  who  live  in 
the  state  in  which  this  incident  occurred,  will  prove  of 
great  interest  and  benefit  to  them.  This  is  not  a 
story  of  some  extraordinary  genius  who  was  led  by 
heavenly  voices,  but  a  plain  country  girl  who  had 
ambition  and  initiative.  Up  to  the  age  of  twenty- 
one  she  lived  the  same  life  that  all  rural  girls  live. 
Hence  her  story  will  appeal  to  girls  because  she  was 
one  of  them. 

In  the  same  county  a  boy  attended  a  rural  school 
until  he  was  seventeen.  Then  one  morning  he  walked 
to  a  graded  school  three  miles  away  and  asked  to  be 
admitted.  He  was  placed  in  an  eighth  grade  among 
pupils  three  years  younger  than  he  was.  Owing  to 
his  neglected  early  education  he  had  a  hard  struggle 
to  keep  up  with  even  the  poorest  pupils  in  the  grade; 
but  he  was  thoroughly  in  earnest,  and  through  the 
sympathetic  help  of  his  teachers  he  was  able  to  pass  to 


68  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

the  high  school  the  next  fall,  whence  he  graduated  at 
the  age  of  twenty-two.  During  his  high  school  course 
he  was  compelled  to  take  charge  of  his  home  farm, 
because  his  father  was  not  strong  enough  to  do  it; 
and  as  the  family  means  were  very  small,  the  boy  had 
to  earn  his  tuition  as  he  went  along.  He  devised  all 
sorts  of  ways  to  do  this.  For  instance,  he  made  over 
one  hundred  dollars  each  year  through  his  bee  hives. 

Having  graduated  at  high  school,  this  young  man 
determined  to  gain  a  college  education.  This  was  a 
formidable  proposition  under  the  circumstances,  and 
he  had  to  stay  at  home  one  year  because  he  had  no 
money;  but  then  he  entered  college,  and  by  means  of 
unremitting  industry  he  made  his  way  through  year 
by  year,  graduating  at  the  age  of  twenty-seven. 

His  sterling  qualities  did  not  fail  to  commend  them- 
selves to  the  professors  of  the  college;  and  on  grad- 
uation he  at  once  received  an  appointment  as  assistant 
professor  of  agriculture  in  a  western  university. 

These  two  stories,  one  of  a  girl,  the  other  of  a  boy, 
illustrate  the  type  that  appeals  to  pupils  everywhere, 
but  especially  to  those  who  live  in  the  same  county 
with  them.  All  children  come  to  the  point  some  time 
in  their  lives  when  they  have  a  feeling  that  all  great 
personal  achievements  belong  to  the  past;  that  the 
days  of  knighthood  perished  with  the  middle  ages; 
that  there  is  no  opportunity  for  heroism  except  in 
time  of  war.  It  is  for  the  teacher  to  point  out  by 
such  stories  as  above  given  that  the  finest  kind  of 
heroism  is  going  on  all  around  us  at  the  present  day, 
and  that  there  is  an  unlimited  field  for  personal 
achievement  open  to  every  boy  and  girl. 


THROUGH  TALKS  BY  THE  TEACHER      69 

Some  teachers  object  to  the  suggestions  in  this 
chapter  on  the  ground  that  moralizing  is  repugnant 
to  pupils,  and  does  more  harm  than  good.  It  has 
already  been  pointed  out  that  no  teacher  should 
undertake  these  talks  unless  she  can  substantiate  them 
in  her  own  life.  It  may  also  be  stated  in  passing  that 
if  a  teacher  cannot  :<back  up"  talks  of  this  nature 
she  is  not  qualified  to  be  a  teacher.  But  all  exper- 
ience proves  that  pupils  listen  eagerly  to  these  stories 
and  talks  if  they  are  well  presented.  There  is  a  spirit 
within  each  pupil  that  responds  to  the  appeal  to 
higher  things.  Naturally  the  teacher  must  use  judg- 
ment in  this,  as  in  all  other  matters;  but  in  the  hands 
of  the  good  teacher  this  direct  appeal  to  the  ambition 
of  the  pupils  is  one  of  the  most  powerful  influences  for 
good  yet  discovered. 


CHAPTER  XI 

REACHING    THE   CHILDREN    THROUGH   FINE 

SENTIMENTS 

Who  can  estimate  the  value  of  a  good  thought? — EMERSON. 

Whene'er  a  noble  deed  is  wrought, 
Whene'er  is  spoken  a  noble  thought, 

Our  hearts,  in  glad  surprise, 

To  higher  levels  rise. 

—  LONGFELLOW. 

OCCASIONALLY  some  great  writer  crystallizes  in  a 
few  words  a  portion  of  the  meaning  of  life.  He  puts 
into  a  single  statement  the  result  of  years  of  thinking 
of  a  fine  mind.  He  embodies  in  a  few  words  a 
thought  of  which  we  have,  perhaps,  been  vaguely 
conscious  ourselves,  but  which  we  have  been  unable  to 
formulate.  When  we  happen  on  such  sentiments, 

"Our  hearts,  in  glad  surprise, 
To  higher  levels  rise." 

These  sentiments,  if  cherished,  become  more  and 
more  principles  of  conduct.  As  such  they  have  a 
powerful  influence  on  our  lives.  They  are  anchors 
that  hold  us  in  time  of  storm  and  keep  us  from  being 
blown  out  to  sea  or  dashed  upon  the  rocks.  They  are 
the  rules  that  determine  the  "structure  that  we  raise." 
They  are  the  guide  posts  that  point  the  way  along 
the  journey  of  life. 


THROUGH  FINE  SENTIMENTS  71 

In  youth,  filled  with  the  freshness  of  early  life, 
these  teachings  are  especially  effective.  Children  are 
just  setting  out  on  their  journey,  and  they  eagerly 
seize  upon  directions  that  may  keep  them  from  losing 
their  way.  They  are  full  of  hope  and  confidence;  and 
the  seed  of  inspiring  thoughts  finds  fertile  soil. 

Hence  there  should  be  systematic  use  of  fine  mot- 
toes and  sentiments  in  the  schoolroom.  One  each 
week  may  very  well  be  placed  on  the  blackboard, 
explained,  illustrated,  applied,  and  memorized.  At 
the  end  of  his  school  course  the  child  will  thus  have 
filled  his  mind  with  an  invaluable  collection  of  fine 
gems  that  will  enrich  his  life  for  all  time. 

An  extract  that  is  strong,  and  at  the  same  time 
simple,  is  this  from  Charles  Dickens:  'Whatever  I 
have  tried  to  do  in  life,  I  have  tried  with  all  my  heart 
to  do  well;  whatever  I  have  devoted  myself  to,  I 
have  devoted  myself  to  completely;  in  great  aims  and 
in  small,  I  have  always  been  thoroughly  in  earnest." 

In  order  that  this  extract  may  become  effective  the 
teacher  must  explain  to  the  pupils  something  of  the 
work  that  Dickens  accomplished  in  the  way  of  social 
reform  —  schools,  teaching,  almshouses,  jails,  courts, 
society.  She  must  bring  out  the  quality  of  output 
of  his  whole  life,  and  show  how  this  would  have  been 
impossible  but  for  his  adherence  to  his  motto  of  al- 
ways being  "thoroughly  in  earnest."  The  next  step 
is  to  show  how  other  men  and  women  who  accomplish 
things  worth  while  in  all  walks  of  life  are  consciously 
or  unconsciously  realizing  the  teachings  of  Dickens, 
and  how  this  is  true  in  school  work.  Then  she  should 
show  the  disastrous  consequences  of  the  violation  of 


72  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

Dickens's  rule  —  how  certain  persons  naturally  bright 
have  frittered  away  their  lives  from  pure  lack  of 
earnestness.  In  this  way  the  extract  will  become  full 
of  meaning  to  the  children.  It  should  be  repeated 
many  times  —  kept  under  constant  review.  With 
each  repetition  it  will  sink  deeper,  and  tend  to 
become  a  more  powerful  influence. 

Another  extract  that  has  a  deep  meaning  is  from 
Ella  Wheeler  Wilcox: 

"  One  ship  drives  east,  the  other  drives  west, 

With  the  self  same  winds  that  blow; 
'Tis  the  set  of  the  sails,  and  not  the  gales, 

That  determines  which  way  they  go. 

"Like  the  winds  of  the  sea  are  the  winds  of  fate, 

As  we  voyage  along  through  life; 
'Tis  the  set  of  the  soul  that  decides  the  goal, 

And  not  the  calm  or  the  strife." 

In  teaching  this  extract  there  must  be  some  instruc- 
tion in  the  method  of  handling  a  sail  boat.  Pupils 
must  be  shown  how  it  is  possible  to  sail  against  the 
the  wind,  and  the  importance  of  "tacking."  It  is  an 
easy  step  to  lead  them  to  see  how  you  cannot  tell  in 
which  way  a  ship  is  going  from  the  direction  of  the 
wind.  Then  pupils  may  be  shown  how  some  people 
always  go  with  the  wind,  even  if  it  is  in  the  wrong 
direction;  and  how  some  people  have  a  hard  fight 
because  the  wind  is  against  them;  and  how  in  nearly 
all  cases  the  wind  changes  by  and  by.  After  these 
and  other  explanations  that  will  occur  to  the  teacher, 
the  pupils  are  ready  for  the  expression  of  the  thought 
as  given  by  Mrs.  Wilcox. 


THROUGH  FINE  SENTIMENTS  73 

Boys  are  usually  much  interested  in  the  romantic 
exploits  of  "Stonewall"  Jackson.  The  teacher  might 
very  well  point  him  out  as  an  example  of  one  who 
was  "thoroughly  in  earnest." 

The  story  of  his  early  life  in  what  is  now  West 
Virginia  shows  a  boy  with  few  chances  for  advance- 
ment. Then  comes  his  entry  into  West  Point,  his 
brave  struggle  to  overcome  his  early  deficiencies  of 
education ;  how  all  he  could  possibly  do  the  first 
year  was  to  keep  himself  from  being  dropped  from 
his  class  for  inability  to  do  the  work,  but  how  he 
finally  graduated  tenth  in  a  class  of  twenty-seven; 
and  how  through  the  severe  pressure  of  these  four 
years  he  was  sustained  by  the  motto  that  he  adopted 
early  in  life,  "I  can  do  whatever  I  will  to  do."  The 
teacher  should  show  how  after  West  Point,  in  the 
Mexican  and  the  Civil  wars,  his  marvelous  achieve- 
ments sprang  out  of  the  effective  use  of  his  own 
motto.  Of  course,  the  teacher  must  always  supply 
additional  examples  to  show  how  a  motto  is  univer- 
sally true. 

Some  young  people,  and  many  adults,  are  obsessed 
with  the  conviction  that  success  or  failure  in  life 
depends  on  external  conditions,  facts,  or  circumstances. 
They  think  people  succeed  because  they  are  lucky, 
or  fail  because  they  are  unlucky.  They  feel  that  pro- 
gress is  only  for  persons  of  means,  and  not  for  people 
who  are  poor.  A  fine  antidote  for  this  state  of  mind 
is  the  expression  of  Walt  Whitman:  "Henceforth  I 
ask  not  good  fortune  —  I  myself  am  good  fortune." 
It  is  needless  to  suggest  the  numberless  instances  on 
every  hand  that  prove  the  correctness  of  this  thought; 


74  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

and  the  teacher  will  do  a  great  work  if  by  driving  it 
into  the  minds  of  the  pupils  she  thereby  expels  that 
vicious  notion  of  luck  that  has  wrought  so  much 
damage  in  the  lives  of  people  of  all  ages. 

Philip    James   Bailey,    in    Festus,    gives   us    these 
familiar  lines: 


.. 


We  live 

In  deeds,  not  years,  in  thoughts,  not  breaths, 
In  feelings,  not  in  figures  on  a  dial. 
We  should  count  time  by  heart  throbs  —  he  most  lives 
Who  thinks  most,  feels  the  noblest,  acts  the  best." 

Shakespeare  has  many  good  things  to  contribute  to 
this  work: 

"Our  doubts  are  traitors, 
And  make  us  lose  the  good  we  oft  might  win 
By  fearing  to  attempt." 

"The  fault,  dear  Brutus,  is  not  in  our  stars, 
But  in  ourselves  that  we  are  underlings." 

In  the  old-time  schools  it  was  customary  to  place 
on  the  wall  printed  mottoes.  Some  of  these  did  more 
good  than  we  realized  at  the  time.  They  are  just  as 
valuable  today  as  at  any  time,  and  should  be  pre- 
sented to  the  pupils  even  if  they  seem  trite  to  us. 
For  instance,  one  of  the  old  mottoes  taught  a  lesson 
we  should  all  heed: 

'Wealth  lost,  nothing  lost; 
Health  lost,  much  lost; 
Character  lost,  all  lost! " 


Other  mottoes  are,  "A  stitch  in  time  saves  nine/' 
"Many  a  mickle  makes  a  muckle."     "Night  brings 


THROUGH  FINE  SENTIMENTS  75 

out  the  stars."     "Labor  conquers  all  things."     "Do 
the  next  thing." 

The  field  of  mottoes  and  extracts  is  rich.  All  de- 
pends on  the  teacher  whether  these  riches  shall  be 
made  available  for  the  pupils,  and  be  to  them  a 
great  blessing. 


CHAPTER  XII 
REACHING    THE   CHILDREN    THROUGH   SYMPATHY 

The  secrets  of  life  are  not  shown  except  to  sympathy  and  like- 
ness. —  EMERSON'S  Representative  Men. 

The  man  who  melts 

With  social  sympathy,  though  not  allied, 
Is  than  a  thousand  kinsmen  of  more  worth. 

—  EURIPIDES  —  Orestes. 

Ah!  thank  Heaven,  travellers  find  Samaritans  as  well  as  Levites 
on  life's  hard  way.  —  THACKERAY. 

Sympathy  is  the  golden  key  that  unlocks  the  hearts  of  others. 
—  SMILES. 

Next  to  love,  sympathy  is  the  divmest  passion  of  the  human 
heart.  —  BURKE. 

IT  is  a  well  known  fact  that  our  greatest  influence 
is  exerted  on  those  who  are  most  closely  connected 
with  us.  We  have  but  little  influence  on  mere 
acquaintances,  and  none  at  all  on  persons  we  do  not 
know. 

Thus  the  teacher  influences  most  the  pupils  whom 
she  knows  best.  A  good  teacher  will  strive  to  be- 
come intimate  with  all  her  pupils,  and  in  that  way 
her  possibilities  for  good  will  be  at  their  maximum. 

But  mere  knowledge  does  not  tell  the  whole  story. 
Nobody  is  influenced  by  another  except  through  the 
feelings.  It  is  the  feelings  that  move  the  will.  In- 


THROUGH  SYMPATHY  77 

tellect  is  cold.  The  will  is  not  moved  by  mere 
intellect. 

The  word  sympathy,  when  analyzed,  means  "a 
feeling  with"  some  one  or  some  thing.  When  we  do 
not  like  a  certain  proposition  in  civic  or  social  life, 
we  say  we  are  not  in  sympathy  with  it,  or  we  some- 
times find  ourselves  out  of  sympathy  with  a  man. 

Now  nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  we  cannot 
do  anything  to  help  another  if  we  are  out  of  sympathy 
with  him.  Only  sympathizers  can  help.  Others,  in 
the  nature  of  the  case,  antagonize.  "He  that  is  not 
for  us  is  against  us." 

The  absolutely  essential  attitude  for  the  teacher 
to  take  if  she  would  reach  her  pupils  is  one  of  sym- 
pathy. Without  it  she  can  do  nothing  in  the  way  of 
influencing  them. 

The  teacher  cannot  do  much  to  help  pupils  unless 
she  has  feeling  with  their  sorrows,  joys,  troubles, 
perplexities.  She  cannot  reach  them  unless  she  en- 
ters into  their  interests,  into  their  lives.  To  remain 
out  of  touch  with  these  lives,  and  simply  to  reason 
with  them,  will  not  move  them.  No  connection  is 
established. 

It  sometimes  happens  that  a  boy  is  sent  to  a  man 
principal  because  of  truancy.  It  may  also  be  that 
when  that  principal  was  a  boy  he  himself  was  guilty 
of  the  same  offence.  In  that  case,  nothing  will  bring 
the  principal  nearer  to  that  boy's  heart  than  for  him 
to  say,  "My  dear  boy,  I  know  exactly  why  you  did 
this,  and  how  you  feel  about  it,  because  when  I  was 
a  boy  I  did  the  same  thing.  I  don't  pretend  that  I 
was  a  perfect  boy  any  more  than  I  am  now  a  perfect 


78  REACHING   THE  CHILDREN 

man.  However,  that  doesn't  alter  the  fact  that 
truancy  is  wrong;  and  just  as  I  overcame  it,  I  want 
you  to  overcome  it."  This  clears  the  way  for  a 
frank  interchange  of  views.  It  places  the  teacher  on 
the  same  level  with  the  pupil,  and  puts  him  in  a 
position  to  help  him.  He  cannot  reach  down  from  a 
moral  mountain  top  to  take  the  hand  of  those  at  the 
foot. 

The  sympathetic  attitude  of  the  teacher  may  be 
considered  in  reference  to  the  school  as  a  whole,  and 
also  in  reference  to  individual  pupils.  The  first  morn- 
ing a  teacher  appears  before  her  class  the  pupils  will 
discern  her  attitude  toward  them.  She  cannot 
deceive  them  even  if  she  would.  They  will  instinc- 
tively feel  whether  she  likes  teaching  or  not,  whether 
she  is  fond  of  children  or  not,  whether  she  will  treat 
them  as  a  kind  helper  or  hold  herself  aloof.  They 
make  this  analysis  almost  unconsciously.  They  tell 
from  the  tone  of  her  voice,  her  manner,  the  flash  of 
the  eye,  and  the  many  little  acts  that  are  part  of  the 
daily  life  in  the  schoolroom.  On  that  impression  of 
the  first  morning  depends  a  great  deal  of  the  teacher's 
success  during  the  year.  If  the  children's  verdict  is 
not  favorable,  they  will  instinctively  take  a  negative 
attitude  toward  her.  Like  sensitive  plants  they  will 
close  themselves  to  her  approach. 

If  on  the  other  hand  the  teacher  shows  the  right 
attitude  toward  the  school,  the  pupils  :<in  glad  sur- 
prise" open  their  hearts  to  her.  They  are  ready  to 
do  anything  for  her.  They  feel  that  what  she  does  is 
actuated  by  a  desire  for  their  good.  They  fear  to 
lose  her  favor,  or  to  grieve  her  by  misconduct.  They 


THROUGH  SYMPATHY  79 

love  the  school  work  because  of  her  attitude  toward 
it  and  toward  them.  Teacher  and  pupils  work  in 
complete  harmony.  They  form  a  cooperative  society 
with  the  teacher  as  leader.  This  means  good  school 
work,  good  moral  training,  good  preparation  for 
citizenship,  teaching  and  learning  a  pleasure.  In  no 
way  can  the  teacher  make  her  work  more  effective 
and  pleasant  than  by  possessing  and  showing  the 
right  attitude  toward  the  school  as  a  whole. 

In  addition  to  this  general  attitude  there  must  be 
an  individual  relation  between  the  teacher  and  each 
of  her  pupils.  It  is  not  enough  that  the  teacher  treat 
her  pupils  properly  as  a  whole.  The  individuals  all 
differ  from  each  other.  Each  pupil  is  unique,  and 
therefore  needs  treatment  adapted  to  his  peculiar 
make-up.  The  teacher  must  establish  this  individual 
relationship  with  each  pupil  if  the  highest  results  are 
to  be  achieved. 

It  is  natural  and  easy  for  the  teacher  to  be  fond  of 
her  likable  pupils.  The  dear  little  girl  who  is  nearly 
perfect  is  of  course  a  joy,  and  we  love  her.  However, 
this  little  girl  very  likely  has  a  nice  home,  and  lives 
in  an  atmosphere  of  love  and  sympathy.  She  needs 
love  and  sympathy  at  school  too,  but  not  as  much  as 
if  she  had  none  at  home. 

There  is,  however,  the  boy  who  does  not  know 
anything  about  sympathy  as  far  as  his  home  treat- 
ment is  concerned,  but  who  has  an  unquenchable 
desire  for  it  nevertheless.  He  is  probably  not  well 
dressed,  and  may  be  backward  in  his  studies.  He 
may  even  be  of  a  bad  disposition. 

If  any  pupil  in  the  room  needs  sympathy,  it  is  this 


80  REACHING   THE  CHILDREN 

rough,  ragged,  troublesome  boy.  It  may  indeed  be 
that  that  is  all  he  needs.  It  is  possible  that  sympathy 
is  the  only  thing  necessary  to  bring  out  his  better 
self.  Yet  too  often  we  give  our  sympathy  to  the 
lovable  children,  and  withhold  it  from  those  who  need 
it  most.  Of  course  this  is  natural;  but  the  true 
teacher  is  not  satisfied  with  the  easy  and  natural 
attitude  alone.  She  has  higher  ideals  than  that.  She 
sees  in  every  neglected  child  her  opportunity  for 
service  to  that  child  and  to  humanity.  "They  that 
are  whole  need  not  a  physician,  but  they  that  are 
sick."  'The  Son  of  Man  came  to  seek  and  to  save 
that  which  was  lost."  "I  came  not  to  call  the  right- 
eous, but  sinners  to  repentance."  The  Gospels  are 
full  of  the  strongest  and  clearest  statements  showing 
that  the  Great  Teacher  had  foremost  in  his  mind  the 
outcasts. 

The  teacher  should  not  postpone  the  establishment 
of  this  individual  connection  until  the  pupil  shall 
have  committed  some  offence  which  needs  correction. 
On  that  basis  some  pupils  would  never  need  a  private 
interview.  It  is  necessary  to  establish  personal 
friendship  as  soon  as  possible  with  each  pupil;  and  if 
the  teacher  has  any  reason  to  suspect  that  a  certain 
pupil  will  cause  trouble  he  is  one  of  the  very  first 
who  should  be  sought  out  and  given  a  copious  share 
of  the  teacher's  regard  so  that  the  possible  trouble 
may  be  avoided. 

For  instance,  here  is  a  large  boy  who  looks  as  if  he 
might  not  have  a  proper  attitude  toward  teacher  or 
school.  He  has  at  home  a  fine  horse  and  buggy  or 
an  automobile,  which  he  is  allowed  to  drive.  If  the 


THROUGH  SYMPATHY  81 

teacher  will  do  him  the  great  favor  of  allowing  him 
to  do  her  a  favor,  and  will  take  a  drive  with  him,  and 
show  her  appreciation  thereof,  he  will  feel  that  he  has 
a  superior  claim  on  her  —  that  somehow  he  is  not  only 
a  pupil  but  a  personal  friend.  This  relationship  will 
hold  him  straight  when  he  might  otherwise  go  wrong; 
and  more  than  that,  it  will  open  the  way  to  the 
teacher  for  the  implanting  of  higher  ideals  in  him. 

In  some  schools  teachers  have  a  card  index  system, 
by  means  of  which  their  pupils  are  observed,  studied, 
and  their  qualities  tabulated  with  much  care.  This 
is  a  very  valuable  plan  provided  it  does  not  result  in 
the  teacher's  regarding  her  pupils  merely  as  subjects  of 
natural  history.  It  has  been  noticed  that  some  pro- 
fessional charity  workers  have  so  developed  the  busi- 
ness side  of  philanthropy  that  they  have  refined  out 
of  themselves  that  human  sympathy  which  the  poor 
so  much  need.  There  is  the  same  danger  in  the  un- 
wise absorption  of  teachers  in  child  study.  The  card 
system  is  a  help  to  the  memory,  a  means  of  conven- 
ience, but  should  never  become  an  end  in  itself. 

In  a  certain  school  there  was  a  ragged  boy  about 
eleven  years  old.  His  teacher  was  one  of  those  who 
pursue  their  routine  with  no  special  interest  in  any- 
thing. She  knew  little  about  the  home  life  of  her 
pupils,  and  cared  less. 

One  morning  this  boy  was  absent  from  school,  and 
he  did  not  return  for  three  days.  The  teacher  was 
much  annoyed  that  her  register  had  been  spoiled  by 
these  three  absent  marks.  On  the  fourth  day  he  was 
in  his  seat;  and  after  roll  call  she  said  to  him  in  a 
stern  voice,  "Mike,  what  kept  you  out  of  school  the 


82  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

last  three  days?"  Mike  looked  at  her  in  a  some- 
what startled  manner,  then  put  his  head  on  his  hands, 
and  burst  into  tears.  The  teacher  then  rose  in  her 
wrath,  and  said,  "Quit  your  sniveling  at  once!  Is  it 
not  enough  that  you  should  spoil  my  register?  Must 
you  also  act  like  a  sissy  as  soon  as  I  ask  you  a  decent 
question?  Now  I  want  no  more  of  this.  You  get 
out  your  books  and  get  to  work  or  I'll  see  that  you 
get  something  worth  pouting  about,  and  that  right 
away!" 

Now  the  fact  was  that  little  Mike's  father  was  a 
drunkard,  and  Mike  had  to  sell  papers  early  and  late 
in  order  to  support  his  mother;  and  Mike's  finer 
feelings  were  harrowed  every  evening  by  the  cruelties 
and  brutalities  that  are  found  in  the  drunkard's 
home.  Finally  Mike's  mother  found  her  lot  too  heavy 
to  bear,  and  she  drooped,  and  passed  away.  Mike's 
absence  from  school  had  been  caused  by  his  mother's 
death.  She  had  been  buried  the  day  before;  and 
when  Mike  saw  the  lid  close  on  her  coffin  he  felt  that 
he  had  lost  the  only  friend  he  had  in  the  world,  and 
his  heart  was  broken.  The  next  morning  when  he 
reached  school  —  nay,  long  before  that  morning  — 
he  stood  in  desperate  need  of  the  teacher's  sympathy 
and  love;  and  to  come  to  school  with  a  broken  heart, 
only  to  be  pierced  by  the  unfeeling  criticism  of  this 
heartless  teacher,  was  more  than  he  could  bear. 

Do  you  suppose  that  this  teacher  ever  did  any 
good  to  little  Mike?  Do  you  suppose  she  ever 
afterwards  could  do  any  good  to  him?  No  -  -  her 
power  to  influence  Mike,  if  it  ever  did  exist,  was 
certainly  now  gone  forever.  Of  course,  the  teacher 


THROUGH  SYMPATHY  83 

would  not  have  been  so  severe  if  she  had  known  the 
circumstances;  but  how  can  she  be  excused  for  her 
ignorance?  The  reason  why  she  did  not  know  the 
situation  is  because  she  had  no  interest  in  Mike.  To 
her  he  was  merely  number  ten  on  the  register  and  sat 
on  the  tenth  seat  of  the  left-hand  row.  Do  you  sup- 
pose that  if  she  had  had  a  love  for  this  boy  he  could 
have  been  absent  a  single  day  without  her  knowing 
why?  It  is  probable  that  many  young  teachers  do 
not  realize  the  great  need  of  sympathy  in  the  treat- 
ment of  pupils.  Perhaps  the  majority  of  young 
teachers  come  from  refined  homes  with  good  parents 
and  congenial  friends.  They  have  been  carefully 
shielded  from  contact  with  the  grosser  side  of  life; 
and  when  they  begin  their  teaching  they  are  in  igno- 
rance of  the  deplorable  amount  of  misery  and  sin  that 
exists  in  some  of  the  homes  from  which  at  least  a  few 
of  their  pupils  come.  Until  they  have  some  idea  of 
the  baleful  environment  that  warps  the  lives  of  these 
children,  they  cannot  establish  a  point  of  contact 
with  them.  They  live  in  different  worlds.  To  the 
unfortunate  boy  the  teacher's  home  would  be  heaven; 
while  to  the  teacher  that  boy's  home  would  be  per- 
dition. Hence  the  indispensable  need  of  the  teacher 
visiting  the  homes,  and  seeing  how  the  children  live, 
if  she  would  reach  them. 

It  is  not  meant  to  convey  the  idea  that  the  sympa- 
thetic teacher  must  be  loose  in  her  school  discipline 
—  that  she  should  be  so  full  of  sympathy  for  her 
pupils  as  to  let  them  all  do  just  as  they  please.  This 
would  be  a  degeneration  of  sympathy  into  weakness. 
The  teacher  should  be  so  full  of  sympathy  for  the 


84  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

best  welfare  of  the  children  that  she  will  hold  them 
up  strictly  to  high  standards.  Tasks  must  be  ac- 
complished. Order  must  prevail.  One  of  the  main 
purposes  of  the  school  is  to  instill  by  practice  the 
performance  of  all  assigned  duties.  Besides,  pupils  like 
a  strict  teacher  if  she  is  fair,  and  dislike  a  teacher  who 
is  too  easy.  It  is  only  necessary  that  these  high 
standards  be  maintained  by  a  teacher  who  loves  her 
pupils,  who  can  put  herself  into  their  places,  and 
who  is  a  friend  in  time  of  joy  and  of  sorrow. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

REACHING    THE   CHILDREN   BY    DIRECT   MORAL 

INSTRUCTION 

Train  up  a  child  in  the  way  he  should  go,  and  when  he  is  old 
he  will  not  depart  from  it.  —  THE  PROVERBS  OF  SOLOMON. 

DR.  EMERSON  E.  WHITE,  in  his  book  on  "School 
Management,"  treats  at  some  length  and  with  much 
force  the  need  for  direct  and  systematic  moral  instruc- 
tion in  schools.  He  rightly  maintains  that  it  is  not 
necessary  to  be  forever  "moralizing"  in  order  to  give 
instruction  in  character  building;  and  he  asserts  that 
the  wise  teacher  will  do  much  more  good  through 
systematic  lessons  than  by  merely  seizing  upon 
occasions  as  they  arise. 

It  has  already  been  urged  that  individual  correction 
should  be  private  and  confidential  as  far  as  possible, 
and  that  there  is  little  call  for  public  or  general 
criticism  of  a  class.  If  this  precept  is  followed,  it  is 
inevitable  that  there  are  scores  of  virtues  that  will 
never  get  any  attention  in  the  school.  Their  impor- 
tance and  their  cultivation  may  be  urged  upon  cer- 
tain individuals  who  are  conspicuously  lacking  in 
them,  but  the  school  as  a  whole  will  get  no  such 
instruction. 

For  instance,  politeness  is  a  virtue  that  is  univer- 
sally needful.  In  the  home,  the  school,  the  church, 


86  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

in  business,  on  vacations,  —  everywhere  there  is  a 
sphere  for  the  exercise  of  this  quality.  But  if  instruc- 
tion in  this  subject  is  incidental,  it  is  altogether 
possible  that  it  will  never  be  broadly  treated  in  any 
one  year.  There  are  young  people  who  are  polite  in 
their  homes,  but  at  a  summer  boarding  house  they 
are  utterly  oblivious  of  true  politeness  and  consid- 
eration of  others.  They  disturb  the  comfort  of  the 
other  vacationists  day  and  night,  and  do  not  for  a 
moment  consider  that  they  are  guilty  of  bad  manners. 
They  feel  like  the  small  boy,  who  the  night  before  the 
family  went  on  vacation,  said  in  his  evening  prayer, 
"Good-by,  Lord,  I'm  going  to  the  sea-shore!" 

If  the  teacher  will  give  a  fifteen-minute  lesson  on 
politeness,  showing  its  fundamental  nature,  its  uni- 
versal principle,  and  will  apply  it  to  the  several 
spheres  in  which  the  children  move,  it  will  surely  do 
some  good  to  some  of  them.  They  will  not  think  that 
politeness  is  for  the  home  and  the  school,  but  not  for 
the  street;  neither  will  they  think  that  politeness  is 
for  other  people  but  not  for  their  own  family.  They 
will  begin  to  see  that  politeness  is  in  the  heart  as  a 
foundation,  and  in  the  outward  life  as  its  expression. 
Usually  children  are  polite  because  they  are  trained 
to  be  polite;  and  in  this  the  school  can  do  much, 
especially  for  such  as  do  not  get  this  training  in  their 
homes.  Through  systematic  lessons  in  the  virtues, 
therefore,  there  is  likely  to  be  a  treatment  of  many 
phases  of  conduct  that  would  not  otherwise  come  up 
for  consideration  in  the  usual  course  of  school  life. 
Furthermore,  such  instruction  is  a  strong  influence  in 
making  children  thoughtful  in  all  their  conduct.  If 


THROUGH  DIRECT  MORAL  INSTRUCTION         87 

there  is  any  one  factor  designed  to  expel  frivolousness 
from  a  young  person,  it  is  a  feeling  of  consideration  for 
others.  Some  little  children  find  it  difficult  to  look 
at  their  own  actions  from  the  standpoint  of  another. 
They  cannot  put  themselves  in  the  place  of  other 
people.  It  is  said  that  certain  boys  do  not  have  the 
slightest  idea  that  their  whip  hurts  the  dog  until  the 
same  whip  is  used  on  them.  As  soon  as  they  have 
been  made  sensible  of  the  pain,  their  cruelty  ceases. 

The  study  of  politeness  above  suggested  would 
bring  before  pupils  phases  that  are  new  to  them. 
Often  their  idea  of  politeness  is  the  raising  of  their 
caps  to  ladies,  and  the  saying  of  "Thank  you"  for 
favors.  Unless  the  deeper  aspects  of  politeness  are 
pointed  out  by  the  teacher  such  ideas  lead  to  veneer, 
to  superficial  formality,  which  tends  toward  hypocrisy. 
But  if  the  teacher  gives  instruction  in  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  politeness,  shows  its  universality, 
its  importance  for  one's  self  as  well  as  for  others, 
she  cannot  fail  to  exert  an  uplifting  influence  on  the 
children. 

How  many  children  realize  that  the  rigid  etiquette 
and  formality  of  life  at  the  court  of  kings  is  not  only 
designed  to  display  the  grandeur  of  the  royal  estate 
but  also  to  engender  and  maintain  a  feeling  of  pro- 
found respect  in  the  hearts  of  the  courtiers?  How 
many  children  realize  that  by  rising  when  a  lady 
enters  the  room  they  are  not  only  showing  honor  to 
her  but  are  developing  a  sense  of  respect  for  all 
womanhood?  And  how  many  are  sensible  of  the 
fact  that  this  feeling  of  respect  cannot  be  realized 
to  the  highest  degree  unless  it  is  manifested  in  the 


88  REACHING   THE  CHILDREN 

forms  found  best  adapted  for  the  purpose  through 
the  experience  of  many  generations  of  society?  These 
things  are  not  learned  of  themselves.  They  need  to 
be  taught. 

It  is  to  be  feared  that  some  teachers  hesitate  to 
undertake  this  instruction  because  they  realize  that 
to  teach  politeness  or  any  other  virtue  with  power  it 
is  necessary  for  the  teacher  to  be  an  exemplar  for  the 
pupils.  The  standard  thus  set  for  the  teacher  is  so 
high  that  she  is  reluctant  to  assume  it.  Several  con- 
siderations may,  however,  be  noted.  One  is  that  the 
teacher  should  be  a  model  for  her  pupils;  and  that 
whether  she  will  or  not,  she  is  a  model  for  her  pupils. 
There  is  no  escape;  and  possibly  the  establishment 
of  a  high  standard  may  be  an  influence  to  help  her  to 
reach  more  nearly  the  requirements  of  a  model. 

Then  again,  the  teacher  should  never  pretend  that 
she  is  a  perfect  woman  any  more  than  pupils  should 
pretend  to  be  perfect  children.  The  teacher  who 
says  in  effect,  *  These  are  the  standards  we  should 
set  up  for  us;  these  are  the  ideals  we  should  strive 
to  reach.  We  shall  never  reach  perfection;  we  all 
sometimes  fail.  But  the  more  we  really  try  to  im- 
prove, the  more  nearly  we  shall  approach  our  stand- 
ard" —  that  teacher  will  place  herself  on  a  level  with 
her  pupils,  all  striving  for  improvement. 

If  a  teacher  is  not  willing  to  put  forth  any  effort 
toward  self-culture,  if  she  in  her  life  and  acts  contra- 
dicts her  teachings,  she  had  better  not  undertake 
this  direct  moral  training.  She  cannot  possibly  teach 
pupils  to  be  kind  if  she  is  unkind  herself.  She  cannot 
possibly  teach  pupils  to  speak  gently  if  she  violates 


THROUGH  DIRECT  MORAL  INSTRUCTION          89 

her  teachings  by  scolding  and  sharp  criticism.  But, 
such  teacher  ought  to  examine  herself  carefully  as  to 
whether  she  should  not  leave  the  teaching  profession 
and  give  place  to  some  one  whose  life  and  words 
more  nearly  coincide. 

"But  children  dislike  moralizing."  True,  if  the 
teacher  is  forever  saying,  "Now,  Johnny,  be  a  good 
boy"  —  "Mary,  be  nice,"  etc.,  ad  nauseam.  But  this 
is  not  what  is  meant  by  direct  moral  instruction  in 
the  schools.  If  properly  done,  all  experience  teaches 
that  pupils  welcome  these  discussions,  and  are  more 
interested  in  them  than  in  many  of  their  regular 
lessons.  For  example,  a  principal  once  gave  a  thirty- 
minute  lesson  every  day  for  three  weeks  in  June  to 
the  graduating  class  in  a  three-year  high  school, 
using  as  a  basis  the  treatment  of  practical  ethics, 
given  in  Haven's  "  Moral  Philosophy/'  When  these 
pupils  bade  their  principal  good-by  at  the  end  of  the 
graduation  exercises  they  said  with  one  voice  that  they 
had  enjoyed  these  lessons  more  than  anything  else  in 
the  course,  and  had  been  greatly  helped  thereby. 

Teachers  can  get  better  results  in  the  teaching  of 
history  by  direct  instruction  in  the  subject  than  by 
all  the  indirect  instruction  that  can  be  gained  in  the 
reading  lessons,  the  encyclopedia,  and  books  on  biog- 
raphy. Direct  instruction  in  all  other  subjects  is 
just  as  necessary  for  adequate  acquirement.  There 
is  direct  instruction  now  in  music,  drawing,  industrial 
work  —  in  everything  the  schools  attempt.  Similarly, 
instruction  in  ethics  will  never  reach  a  maximum  of 
effectiveness  unless  it  is  direct  and  regular.  It  will 
never  be  what  it  should  be  unless  teachers  are  as  well 


90  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

prepared  to  present  the  subject  as  the  manual  train- 
ing teacher  is  to  teach  manual  training,  or  the  teacher 
of  grammar  is  to  teach  grammar.  And  if  properly 
taught,  direct  moral  instruction  will  be  far  more  valu- 
able to  children  than  the  correction  of  false  syntax  or 
the  compounding  of  interest.  Emerson's  judgment  of  a 
country  was  the  kind  of  men  and  women  it  produces. 
The  judgment  of  a  school  might  likewise  be  the  kind 
of  boys  and  girls  it  produces.  For  this  work,  direct 
moral  instruction  is  indispensable. 

John  King  Clark  has  built  up  in  a  large  New  York 
school,  of  which  he  is  principal,  a  system  for  teaching 
morals  and  ethics  that  is  practical  and  simple.  The 
outlines  actually  used  by  his  teachers  are  given  in 
his  "Systematic  Moral  Education." 


CHAPTER  XIV 

REACHING    THE    CHILDREN    THROUGH 
COMPANIONSHIP 

I  live  not  in  myself,  but  I  become  a 
Portion  of  that  around  me.  —  BYRON. 

"I  AM  a  part  of  all  that  I  have  met."  This  sen- 
tence, which  Tennyson  puts  in  the  mouth  of  the  aged 
Ulysses,  is  profoundly  true  and  significant.  It  has  a 
fourfold  application,  which  gives  it  a  scope  as  broad 
as  life. 

Ulysses  had  had  an  adventurous  life.  He  had  been 
among  the  leaders  in  the  ten  years'  war  before  Troy. 
For  twenty  years  thereafter  he  had  wandered  about 
the  seas,  meeting  with  strange  people,  strange  scenes, 
and  strange  adventures.  Then  he  resumed  his  king- 
ship on  the  island  of  Ithaca;  and  in  his  last  days,  as 
he  looked  back  upon  his  varied  career,  and  especially 
when  he  saw  himself  an  associate  of  kings  and  world 
renowned  warriors,  he  exclaimed  with  pride, 

k<I  have  been  in  battle  with  my  peers! " 

and  then  said  with  equal  pride, 

"I  am  a  part  of  all  that  I  have  met." 

This  thought   may  be  amplified  thus:    "Great   men 
have  I  met.     I  have  been  an  actor  in  great  scenes, 


92  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

stirring  adventures,  vicissitudes  by  land  and  sea;  and 
from  all  these  have  I  imbibed  their  essential  qualities. 
The  great  men  have  given  me  freely  of  their  heroism; 
the  great  scenes  have  imprinted  themselves  indelibly 
on  my  mind;  the  adventures  and  vicissitudes  have 
given  me  courage,  resourcefulness,  patience,  per- 
severance, and  faith  in  the  gods.  Hence  I  have 
literally  been  made  by  what  I  have  met.  I  am  the 
sum,  the  embodiment,  of  these  scenes." 

On  the  other  hand,  Ulysses  might  have  reasoned 
thus:  "When  before  Troy  I  gave  to  my  peers  all  the 
courage  and  skill  which  I  possessed;  I  contributed  part 
of  my  life  to  the  great  Trojan  conquest.  Then  during 
the  twenty  years  of  wandering  I  put  my  intrepidity 
into  my  sailors,  and  into  all  whom  I  encountered. 
And  now,  after  a  long  life  I  feel  that  every  person  I 
have  met  has  within  him  some  of  my  life;  and  every 
adventure  I  saw  received  the  impress  of  some  of  my 
qualities." 

Ulysses  boasted  of  this  influence,  either  as  he 
received  it,  or  as  he  gave  it.  He  was  proud  of  it 
in  either  aspect.  He  became  noble  because  of  the 
nobility  of  the  peers  with  whom  for  ten  years  he  vied 
in  deeds  of  valor,  or  because  he  gave  noble  qualities 
to  all  he  met. 

All  writers  and  thinkers  agree  as  to  the  very  vital 
importance  of  young  people  securing  the  proper 
associations.  "Try  to  frequent  the  company  of  your 
betters,"  says  Thackeray.  "In  books  and  life  that 
is  the  most  wholesome  society.  Learn  to  admire 
rightly;  the  great  pleasure  of  life  is  that.  Note  what 
great  men  admired:  they  admired  great  things; 


THROUGH  COMPANIONSHIP  93 

narrow  spirits  admire  basely  and  worship  meanly." 

It  is  of  very  great  moment  that  a  man  who  is  a 
king  should  associate  with  his  peers;  and  if  he  is  not 
a  king,  that  he  should  associate  with  the  most  royal 
men  he  can  find. 

Association  with  inferiors  has  a  powerful  tendency 
to  drag  one  down.  It  is  almost  impossible  to  keep 
oneself  from  falling  from  the  high  standard  he  might 
otherwise  maintain.  Stable  boys  may  be  just  as  good 
as  anybody  else;  but  "gossiping"  with  them,  as  Ruskin 
says,  takes  the  mind  from  things  that  kings  and  queens 
enjoy,  and  draws  it  down  to  a  much  lower  level. 

The  boy  meets  a  fine  man  for  the  first  time. 
They  enter  into  conversation,  and  the  boy  gives 
attention  to  the  words  of  his  new  acquaintance. 
They  discuss  things  interesting  to  both.  The  boy 
gets  a  glimpse  of  the  thoughts  that  occupy  the  mind 
of  the  man,  and  to  which  he  assigns  some  importance. 
The  more  they  meet,  the  more  intimate  they  become; 
the  more  the  boy  enters  into  the  interests  and  ideals 
of  the  man;  the  more  his  own  ideals  are  elevated  by 
the  communion;  and  step  by  step  the  boy  rises  to  the 
level  of  the  man's  thinking.  The  man's  ideals  become 
the  boy's  ideals;  and  the  boy  has  been  developed 
into  a  fine  man  because  he  has  become  a  part  of  him 
whom  he  has  met. 

Another  boy  has  no  such  opportunity  of  meeting  a 
great  man,  but  he  has  Weems's  "Life  of  Washington," 
"Pilgrim's  Progress,"  "^Esop's  Fables,"  a  "History 
of  the  United  States,"  and  above  all,  the  Bible.  He 
reads  these  books  over  and  over  again.  The  more  he 
reads  them,  the  more  his  mind  mounts  to  the  rising 


94  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

ideals  they  present.  By  and  by  they  control  not  only 
his  style  of  writing  and  speaking,  but  his  very  think- 
ing; and  through  his  thinking  his  actions  and  his 
character.  In  other  words,  Abraham  Lincoln  was 
largely  the  embodiment  of  the  men  and  scenes  he 
met  through  the  printed  page.  It  may  be  affirmed 
with  much  confidence  that  the  most  effective  principle 
for  young  people  to  follow  is,  "Give  your  attention 
to  the  higher  things." 

The  students  who  attended  Wellesley  College  in  the 
eighties  and  early  nineties  pursued  the  customary 
college  curriculum  with  the  usual  gratifying  results. 
They  learned  much  in  the  classroom,  much  in  the 
library,  much  from  their  classmates;  but  they  enjoyed 
the  inestimable  privilege,  alas!  now  gone  for  all  time, 
of  personal  contact  with  Alice  Freeman,  'the  most 
persuasive  personality  I  have  ever  met,"  as  Lyman 
Abbott  characterizes  her.  'The  finest  example  thus 
far  set  before  American  womanhood,"  possessing  the 
highest  ideals  herself,  living  her  ideals  to  a  remarkable 
degree,  so  influenced  her  students  through  personal 
contact  and  otherwise,  that  they  rose  toward  the 
standard  of  her  own  life.  In  this  case  the  girls  were 
not  so  much  associating  with  one  of  their  betters  as 
with  a  divine  being  who  was  yet  thoroughly  human, 
and  had  known  all  the  struggles  of  adversity.  To 
be  associated  with  such  a  personality  is  a  privilege 
and  a  blessing  that  comes  to  few  persons  in  a  lifetime. 

There  are  some  people  who  believe  that  Heaven 
exists  here  and  now;  that  the  soul  is  immortal,  but 
that  this  immortality  consists  only  in  the  parts  of 
ourselves  that  we  put  into  other  people.  We  give 


THROUGH  COMPANIONSHIP  95 

one  person  an  impulse  toward  goodness,  or  give  him 
a  distinct  contribution  toward  his  welfare  —  in  other 
words,  do  him  some  good.  That  good  is  a  part  of 
our  Me.  Through  him  it  goes  into  some  one  else, 
and  so  on,  forever.  This  is  immortality,  say  some, 
and  the  only  immortality. 

Few  will  agree  that  this  creed  is  sufficient;  but  it 
embodies  the  great  truth  that  the  good  we  do  lives  in 
others,  and  that  its  influence  is  immeasurable.  What 
a  privilege  Alice  Freeman  enjoyed  of  having  her  rich 
life  become  part  of  the  lives  of  the  thousands  of 
Wellesley  girls  whom  she  knew,  and  the  multitudes 
of  others  whom  she  did  not  know! 

The  same  privilege  is  for  the  teacher.  She  takes 
charge  of  a  school,  and  through  her  conscious  and 
unconscious  influence  her  pupils  will  imbibe  her  life 
and  become  more  and  more  like  her.  Her  ideals 
become  their  ideals.  The  things  she  considers  worth 
while  the  children  will  consider  worth  while.  What 
she  does,  what  she  says,  the  books  she  reads,  the 
things  she  loves,  indeed,  the  whole  outgoing  of  her 
life,  molds  and  transforms  the  pupils  more  and  more 
into  what  she  is.  Great  the  opportunity  —  great  the 
responsibility ! 

It  is  very  evident  that  this  becoming  like  those  we 
meet  has  an  obverse  side.  If  the  associates  of  Ulysses 
from  his  boyhood  up  had  been  his  peers,  but  instead 
of  being  kings  had  been  corner  loafers,  the  world 
would  never  have  heard  of  him  or  of  them.  The  boy 
who  under  proper  auspices  imbibes  the  ideals  of  fine 
men,  directly  or  through  books,  and  is  ennobled 
thereby,  will  just  as  certainly,  under  improper  auspices, 


96  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

imbibe  the  ideals  of  low  men,  directly  or  through 
books,  and  will  be  degraded  thereby.  If  he  associates 
with  the  base,  and  enters  into  the  things  that  interest 
them,  he  will  become  part  of  that  life,  and  go  to 
destruction. 

Lastly,  the  evil  man  gives  of  his  life  wherever  he 
goes,  and  it  becomes  part  of  all  he  meets.  If  this 
were  immortality  (and  it  is  a  portion  of  immortality), 
what  a  frightful  picture!  To  have  one's  blasting 
influence  continue  for  all  time  —  to  be  forever  degrad- 
ing the  innocent  —  to  give  pain  for  joy,  despair  for 
hope,  hell  for  heaven,  world  without  end!  Surely 
some  would  pause  in  their  wickedness  if  they  could 
be  made  to  feel  the  consequences  of  their  acts. 

To  the  true  teacher  this  doctrine  is  full  of  encour- 
agement. Sometimes  she  feels  as  if  her  pupils  were 
not  improving  as  they  should  —  that  she  is  getting 
little  response  to  her  efforts  to  build  up  their  char- 
acters. But  let  her  consider  that  her  greatest  influ- 
ence is  silent  —  that  her  teachings  find  lodgment  in 
the  hearts  of  the  children  and  sometimes  do  not  im- 
mediately come  to  fruition.  But  by  and  by,  when 
the  seed  has  lain  for  the  proper  length  of  time  beneath 
the  soil,  it  will  come  up  little  by  little,  and  in  the 
end  may  show  a  rich  harvest. 


CHAPTER  XV 

REACHING  THE  CHILDREN   THROUGH  IDEALS 

One  crowded  hour  of  glorious  life 
Is  worth  an  age  without  a  name. 

—  SCOTT. 

HUGH  BLACK  has  well  said,  'The  ideal  is  the  real 
as  it  should  be."  Perhaps  nowhere  else  in  all  liter- 
ature has  this  great  truth  been  expressed  more  clearly 
and  more  simply.  If  the  real  man  were  what  he 
should  be,  he  would  be  ideal.  So  would  the  land- 
scape, the  picture,  the  tree,  the  work.  The  more 
ideal  elements  anything  possesses  the  more  permanent 
it  will  be,  and  the  more  worthy.  Our  purpose  should 
be  to  introduce  the  greatest  possible  number  of  ideal 
elements  into  our  lives,  and  as  teachers,  to  reach 
our  pupils  by  instilling  these  elements  into  their 
hearts. 

The  sources  of  these  elements  are,  of  course,  to 
be  found  in  nature  and  in  the  fine  arts.  To  the 
appreciative  eye  every  flower,  shrub,  tree,  landscape, 
mountain,  is  full  of  the  ideal.  The  condemnation 
which  Peter  Bell  in  Wordsworth's  poem  brought  on 
himself  was  that 

"A  primrose  by  a  river's  brim 
A  yellow  primrose  was  to  him, 
And  it  was  nothing  more." 


98  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

He  saw  nothing  in  it  but  a  yellow  flower  —  no  beauty, 
no  God,  not  even  an  object  of  interest.  Hence  his 
whole  life  was  on  the  low  plane  of  a  real  with  no 
ideal  elements. 

Surround  the  child  with  high-class  pictures.  More 
and  more  they  will  make  to  his  heart  their  effective 
appeal.  They  will  unconsciously  elevate  his  tastes 
and  his  thoughts.  More  and  more  they  will  tend  to 
make  the  inartistic  and  the  coarse  distasteful  to  him. 
His  feelings  and  his  manners  will  be  refined.  Life 
will  have  a  meaning  for  him.  He  will  see  the  beauty 
of  the  other  arts  and  of  nature.  If  this  unconscious 
teaching  is  supplemented  by  instruction,  its  value 
will  be  largely  increased. 

In  these  days  of  victrolas  there  is  little  reason  why 
children  should  not  enjoy  what  formerly  was  the 
privilege  of  the  few  —  good  music.  Music  does 
through  the  ear  what  painting  does  through  the  eye 
—  reaches  the  soul.  When  a  child  or  a  man  has  once 
been  thrilled  through  and  through  by  a  strain  of 
noble  music,  he  will  forever  live  on  a  higher  plane 
than  before. 

Music  is  more  universal  than  painting.  When  the 
child  is  born  there  is  rejoicing  and  music.  When  he 
worships  there  is  music.  When  he  is  in  the  house  of 
mirth  there  is  music.  It  soothes  and  inspires,  it 
comforts,  and  expresses  joy.  At  the  grave  there  is  the 
solemn  hymn  and  the  funeral  march.  Everywhere 
there  is  a  place  for  music;  and  schools  are  beginning 
to  recognize  its  wide  appeal. 

But  just  as  we  should  seek  the  society  of  our  betters 
if  we  wish  to  improve  ourselves,  just  as  the  books 


THROUGH  IDEALS  99 

that  do  us  most  good  are  those  which  make  us  reach 
up,  so  the  music  that  benefits  us  must  be  that  which 
lifts  us  up.  There  is  a  distinct  danger  that  the  very 
general  use  of  music  in  homes  will  lead  to  a  taste 
for  the  two-step,  the  one-step,  and  other  kinds  of 
so-called  popular  music.  There  is  a  tendency  in 
recent  years  for  every  person  to  dance.  The  demand 
is  for  dance  music.  In  some  instances  people  who 
are  very  fond  of  dancing  care  nothing  for  music  of  a 
higher  class.  Music  that  is  not  adapted  for  dancing 
has  no  meaning  for  them.  This  was  illustrated  at  a 
large  hotel,  where  the  guests  had  assembled,  and  were 
waiting  for  the  musicians  before  beginning  the  dance. 
In  order  to  "fill  in"  the  interval  one  of  the  guests 
sat  down  at  the  piano  and  played  the  "Evening  Star'3 
from  Tannhauser.  To  his  utter  amazement  a  number 
of  guests  stepped  on  the  floor  and  began  to  "dance 
it."  It  meant  even  less  to  them  than  the  primrose 
meant  to  Peter  Bell. 

The  school  should  try  to  counteract  this  degradation 
of  a  noble  art  by  giving  opportunity  for  hearing  music 
of  a  high  character.  The  way  to  educate  taste  in 
music  is  to  bring  pupils  into  contact  with  good  music 
again  and  again,  and  to  point  out  its  beauties.  This 
leads  inevitably  to  a  keener  appreciation  of  all  the 
arts.  It  is  the  secret  in  poetry,  in  painting  and  in 
sculpture.  The  school  should  waste  no  money  on 
worthless  records.  Only  such  selections  as  stand  for 
something  worthy  should  be  bought. 

The  fact  is  that  much  of  what  is  called  music  is  not 
music  at  all.  It  is  only  mechanical  skill,  finger 
exercises,  tintinnabulation.  It  bears  the  same  relation 


100  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

to  true  music  that  the  chromo  does  to  true  painting. 
It  has  a  tendency  to  deprave  the  taste,  and  has  there- 
fore no  place  in  the  school,  and  should  have  no  place 
anywhere  else. 

The  art  that  most  directly  reaches  the  heart,  how- 
ever, is  poetry.  It  is  more  tangible  than  music,  and 
its  language  is  more  definite.  Through  the  medium 
of  words  it  can  be  held  in  the  mind  and  contemplated 
at  all  times.  If  it  is  the  mind  that  makes  the  body 
rich,  as  Shakespeare  says,  it  is  poetry  that  makes  the 
mind  rich. 

Macaulay  argues  strongly  that  a  commercial  age 
is  not  favorable  to  the  development  of  poetry.  A 
few  generations  ago  our  forefathers  often  spent  their 
evenings  with  their  families,  reading  aloud  the  latest 
poems  of  Emerson,  Longfellow,  Poe,  Wordsworth, 
and  Tennyson.  They  were  familiar  also  with  Shake- 
speare, Milton,  and  other  great  poets.  In  our  present 
industrial  age  there  is  less  of  family  gathering  for  any 
purpose;  and  it  is  to  be  feared  that  the  poets  receive 
scant  attention  because  of  the  more  direct  pursuit  of 
business  and  pleasure.  Thus  it  is  inevitable  that  a 
family  should  lose  whatever  of  good  there  is  in  poetry; 
and  it  is  at  least  questionable  whether  the  things  that 
displace  it  are  of  equal  value. 

In  poetry  as  in  music  and  painting,  there  is  the 
worthy  and  the  unworthy.  To  some  people  poetry 
is  rhyme.  They  cannot  discriminate  between  dog- 
gerel and  epic.  Of  course  to  such  poetry  has  no 
meaning,  no  message,  no  appeal.  They  feel  that  the 
reading  of  poetry  is  a  waste  of  time,  and  that  a  love 
of  poetry  is  an  indication  of  an  effeminate  mind.  It 


THROUGH  WEALS  101 


may  do  for  dreamers,  but  has  no  claims  on  practical 
men  and  women. 

But  consider  a  moment  that  the  great  names  in 
the  history  of  the  world  are  those  of  poets  —  Homer, 
Dante,  Shakespeare,  Goethe,  Milton,  and  many  others. 
Practically  every  industry  in  the  time  of  Elizabeth 
has  perished,  but  its  poetry  remains.  The  fine  arts 
make  the  most  permanent  contributions  to  any  age. 

Those  who  despise  poetry  simply  show  their  igno- 
rance. If  they  have  nothing  to  learn  from  Shake- 
speare, the  fault  is  not  in  Shakespeare.  They  simply 
classify  themselves  among  those  who  have  no  time 
nor  taste  for  the  higher  things  of  life.  The  rush  of 
the  automobile  is  more  pleasant  to  them  than  a  noble 
thought,  and  the  tripping  of  the  toe  than  the  master- 
pieces of  Wagner  or  Beethoven. 

The  teacher  who  is  alive  to  her  opportunities,  who 
is  filled  with  a  desire  to  bring  the  real  child  more 
nearly  up  to  the  ideal,  will  give  much  attention  to  the 
study  of  the  ideals  embodied  in  poetry.  Dr.  White 
has  pointed  out  that  a  fine  thought  is  greatly  enhanced 
through  its  beautiful  expression.  Poetry  not  only 
concerns  itself  with  ideals,  but  its  medium  of  com- 
munication is  through  magic  language.  Hence  its 
effect  on  the  child  is  probably  greater  than  that  of 
any  other  fine  art. 

The  beautiful  poems  of  the  school  readers  should 
be  regarded  by  the  teacher  as  treasures.  She  should 
plainly  show  the  pupils  that  she  loves  them.  Her 
very  enthusiasm  will  communicate  itself  to  the  pupils. 
It  is  entirely  certain  that  if  a  poem  means  nothing 
to  the  teacher,  it  will  mean  little  to  the  pupils.  But 


102  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

by  bringing  out  the  truths  of  the  poems,  and  showing 
their  application,  and  by  expressing  appreciation  of 
their  beauties,  and  by  frequent  thoughtful,  reverent 
repetition  of  these  poems,  their  ideals  will  more  and 
more  become  a  part  of  the  lives  of  the  children;  the 
real  will  receive  more  and  more  of  the  ideal,  and  their 
characters  will  be  formed  of  the  imperishable  elements 
of  true  beauty. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

REACHING  THE  CHILDREN   THROUGH  INSTRUCTION 

IN  HEALTH 

Health  is  the  second  blessing  that  we  mortals  are  capable  of;  a 
blessing  that  money  cannot  buy.  —  IZAAK  WALTON. 

CARLYLE  says:  *  There  is  no  kind  of  achievement 
you  could  make  in  the  world  that  is  equal  to  perfect 
health." 

The  following  is  from  John  Locke:  "He  that  sinks 
his  vessel  by  overloading  it,  though  it  be  with  gold 
and  silver  and  precious  stones,  will  give  his  owner 
but  an  ill  account  of  his  voyage." 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  an  increasing  amount  of 
attention  is  given  to  the  subject  of  personal  health 
and  hygiene,  there  are  still  many  homes  in  which  no 
definite  and  purposeful  instruction  is  given  to  children 
in  regard  to  the  care  of  their  bodies.  Go  into  any 
rural  school  and  ask  pupils  between  the  ages  of  six 
and  sixteen  whether  they  regularly  take  a  morning 
bath,  and  you  are  very  fortunate  if  one  in  forty  raises 
his  hand.  Ask  how  many  take  a  bath  regularly  once 
a  week,  and  not  all  hands  will  even  then  be  raised. 
Then  ask  how  many  drink  a  glass  of  water  before 
breakfast,  or  brush  their  teeth,  or  sleep  with  open 
windows  during  the  winter,  and  you  will  be  impressed 
with  the  need  of  further  effort  in  teaching  personal 
hygiene. 


104        REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  if  any  commodity  costs 
nothing  it  is  not  considered  valuable,  however  impor- 
tant it  may  be;  but  as  soon  as  a  price  is  set  on  it, 
its  value  is  more  appreciated.  For  example,  in 
nearly  all  communities  there  are  delightful  walks, 
with  beautiful  trees  and  flowers  and  singing  birds  and 
pleasant  views,  and  there  is  health  in  every  step. 
Yet  there  are  very  few  who  seize  the  opportunity. 
But  if  some  one  were  to  put  a  fence  around  a  tract 
of  land,  with  entrance  at  a  gate  only,  and  were  to 
charge  an  admission  fee  of  twenty-five  cents,  the 
number  of  walkers  would  be  greatly  increased. 

Likewise  if  a  physician  were  to  charge  a  good  sum 
for  medical  advice,  and  would  direct  the  patient  to 
take  a  morning  bath  and  a  glass  of  water,  the  advice 
would  be  followed,  and  water  would  seem  more 
valuable. 

Nature  indeed  offers  us  good  health  free  of  cost. 
Water  to  clean  us  outwardly  and  inwardly,  and  to 
give  us  oxygen;  air  to  serve  the  same  purpose;  hills 
and  valleys  and  outdoor  work  to  give  us  exercise  and 
appetite  —  the  poorest  family  can  enjoy  all  these  gifts, 
and  needs  little  more  for  good  health.  Yet  these 
priceless  gifts,  being  free,  are  not  esteemed. 

In  the  schools  of  New  Jersey,  and  doubtless  in  some 
other  states,  there  is  found  in  every  room  a  chart 
prepared  by  the  State  Board  of  Health.  This  chart 
is  a  portion  of  the  campaign  against  tuberculosis; 
but  it  is  a  compendium  of  expert  advice  on  hygiene 
couched  in  the  simplest  possible  language.  Its  value 
cannot  be  overestimated.  The  teacher  might  well 
say  to  her  pupils,  "If  you  were  to  go  to  a  physician 


THROUGH  INSTRUCTION  IN  HEALTH    105 

who  stands  among  the  foremost  in  this  State,  and 
pay  him  ten  dollars  for  advice,  you  would  consider 
it  very  important,  and  would  observe  it  with  care. 
The  State  Board  of  Health  is  composed  of  a  number 
of  the  foremost  physicians  in  this  State.  You  need 
not  go  to  the  expense  of  visiting  their  offices,  or  of 
paying  a  consultation  fee.  On  this  chart  they  have 
united  their  knowledge  and  skill  in  giving  you  pre- 
scriptions of  the  highest  value.  You  need  pay  no 
fees  whatever.  Are  the  prescriptions  therefore  the 
less  important?' 

The  best  plan  to  use  in  connection  with  the  observ- 
ance of  these  or  other  health  rules  is  to  begin  with 
certain  ones  that  are  very  easy  to  obey,  and  add  to 
these  from  time  to  time,  finally  completing  the  whole 
list.  A  certain  teacher  of  a  rural  school  of  forty 
pupils  urged  them  to  observe  what  he  called  "the  five 
points,"  and  every  morning  he  asked  how  many  had 
done  them.  They  were,  ' '  Wash  your  face,  wash  your 
hands,  brush  your  teeth,  drink  a  glass  of  water,  eat 
your  breakfast."  In  a  short  time  this  teacher  had 
established  these  five  habits  in  all  the  children.  The 
following  year  a  new  teacher,  hearing  of  this  plan, 
continued  it,  and  added  thereto.  Thus  in  a  pleasant, 
easy  manner  the  children  were  given  lessons  worth 
more  than  all  the  technical  physiology  in  the  course 
of  study. 

Children  often  feel  that  a  morning  bath  implies  a 
bathroom  and  bathtub.  Of  course  both  are  conven- 
ient, but  not  essential.  A  pitcher  of  water  with  a 
wash  bowl  or  basin,  a  cloth  and  a  towel,  are  all  the 
necessary  materials;  and  to  "wipe  and  dry  the  body 


106  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

quickly  every  day,"  as  the  health  chart  directs, 
requires  but  two  or  three  minutes  of  time.  Nor  is  a 
cold  sleeping  room  a  sufficient  reason  for  omitting  the 
morning  bath,  inasmuch  as  the  reaction  caused  by  the 
rubbing  will  do  more  to  heat  the  body  than  artificial 
heat  or  clothing. 

There  is  small  wonder  that  Carlyle  used  the  strong 
language  at  the  beginning  of  this  chapter.  All  his 
life  he  suffered  the  pangs  of  dyspepsia.  Not  only 
did  this  disease  sap  his  strength  and  give  him  great 
distress,  but  it  colored  his  thinking,  so  that  he 
became  morose  and  fretful.  No  man  can  see  the 
sunny  side  of  life  when  afflicted  with  the  pangs  of 
indigestion.  It  may  be  that  Carlyle  was  conscious 
not  only  of  what  he  suffered  but  what  he  missed  when 
he  laid  supreme  emphasis  on  good  health. 

Indigestion  is  usually  caused  by  unwise  eating  — 
too  much  food,  poorly  cooked  food,  hasty  eating,  or 
eating  what  the  system  cannot  digest.  Hence  it  is  of 
great  importance  that  our  girls  should  be  taught 
scientific  cooking;  and  it  is  of  still  greater  importance 
that  pupils  should  be  taught  the  dangers  of  improper 
eating.  By  direct  instruction  on  these  points  the 
teacher  can  be  of  great  service  to  the  children. 

There  are  three  classes  of  students  —  those  who 
study  properly,  those  who  study  too  little,  and  those 
who  study  too  much.  In  some  schools  so  much 
attention  is  given  to  the  second  class  that  the  third 
is  permitted  to  continue  overworking  until  some  of 
them  have  irreparably  injured  their  health.  It  is  to 
them  that  the  words  of  John  Locke  previously  quoted 
have  special  application. 


THROUGH  INSTRUCTION  IN  HEALTH          107 

A  young  man  of  eighteen  once  entered  a  normal 
school  with  the  avowed  purpose  of  completing  a  two- 
year  course  in  one  year.  He  did  it,  but  he  shattered 
his  system;  and  a  year  after  his  graduation  the  grasses 
were  growing  on  his  grave. 

A  girl  graduated  at  the  head  of  her  class  from  a 
large  city  high  school.  She  was  appointed  to  give 
the  valedictory.  About  a  week  before  the  graduation 
exercises  she  became  ill.  The  physicians  diagnosed 
the  case  as  appendicitis,  and  advised  an  immediate 
operation.  The  girl  absolutely  refused  to  submit  to 
this  operation  until  after  she  had  given  her  valedic- 
tory, and  nothing  could  be  done  to  change  her  mind. 
She  gave  the  valedictory,  was  rushed  to  a  hospital, 
but  it  was  too  late.  She  gave  her  life  for  the  sake  of 
reciting  the  honor  essay. 

Another  girl  insisted  on  studying  until  midnight 
every  evening.  Her  high  school  principal  warned 
her  many  times  that  she  was  shattering  her  nerves, 
but  she  refused  to  listen.  She  too  graduated  at  the 
head  of  the  class,  but  has  never  since  been  able  to  do 
a  day's  work. 

It  is  very  much  easier  to  get  a  slack  student  to 
give  enough  attention  to  his  studies  than  to  get  one 
who  over-studies  to  be  reasonable.  To  the  latter  the 
teacher  must  emphasize  in  season  and  out  the  value 
of  moderation  in  all  things  —  self-control  even  in 
good  things.  She  must  point  out  the  great  handicap 
in  life  that  comes  from  a  strong  mind  fettered  by  a 
weak  body.  She  must  take  this  matter  up  with  the 
parents.  She  must  control  the  home  work  of  the 
pupils.  She  must  remove  all  artificial  incentives, 


108        REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

and  other  unhealthy  stimuli.  Every  possible  effort 
should  be  made  to  see  that  these  bright  minds  are 
reared  in  bodies  of  maximum  efficiency. 

The  work  of  the  teacher  of  today  is  much  more 
complex  than  a  generation  ago.  She  is  expected  to  do 
many  things  that  her  predecessors  never  thought  of. 
But  amid  all  her  duties  there  is  none  that  has  a 
greater  claim  on  her  attention  than  that  of  training 
her  pupils  to  take  care  of  their  bodies,  so  that  they 
may  have  an  adequate  physical  basis  to  do  effectively 
their  work  in  the  world. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

REACHING   THE  CHILDREN   THROUGH  REMOVING 

FALSE  IDEAS 

What  error  leads  must  err.  —  SHAKESPEARE. 

"The  great  secret  of  success  in  life  is  to  be  ready  when  the  oppor- 
tunity comes. "  —  DISRAELI. 

"Great  works  are  performed  not  by  strength,  but  by  perse- 
verance." —  SAMUEL  JOHNSON. 

"The  winds  and  waves  are  always  on  the  side  of  the  ablest  navi- 
gators. "  —  GIBBON. 

"All  actual  heroes  are  essential  men, 
And  all  men  possible  heroes."  —  MRS.  BROWNING. 

"Raleigh  found  the  tower  of  London  a  convenient  place  for  writ- 
ing a  History  of  the  World."  —  HAMILTON  WRIGHT  MABIE. 

"Happy  are  they  to  whom  life  brings,  not  ease  and  physical  com- 
fort, but  great  chances  of  heroism,  sacrifice,  and  service."  —  MABIE. 

" Genius  is  about  two  per  cent  inspiration;  all  the  rest  is  perspira- 
tion." —  EDISON. 

THE  eight  extracts  here  given  are  from  workers  in 
different  ages  and  different  spheres.  Scores  more 
could  be  quoted;  and  after  many  pages  were  filled, 
the  diligent  student  could  not  find  a  single  one  in 
which  emphasis  is  laid  on  luck  as  a  factor  in  life. 
In  the  eight  just  quoted  the  word  luck  is  not  even 
mentioned.  The  ambitious  and  successful  man  simply 
gives  no  place  to  it  whatever  in  his  calculations. 


110  REACHING   THE  CHILDREN 

For  him  it  does  not  exist.  And,  of  course,  for  nobody 
else  does  it  exist. 

Yet  there  is  in  the  minds  of  a  surprisingly  large 
number  of  people,  especially  of  those  who  have 
achieved  little  or  nothing,  a  latent  and  sometimes 
often  expressed  idea  that  one  man  succeeds  because 
he  has  luck,  and  another  fails  because  luck  is  against 
him.  Of  course,  if  a  man  holds  this  idea,  his  children 
are  more  or  less  imbued  with  it,  and  the  teacher 
must  expel  it  from  their  minds. 

The  child  is  at  the  beginning  of  life's  road.  He 
has  imbibed  instructions,  ideas,  tendencies  from  his 
home  as  to  how  to  proceed  on  his  journey.  He  has 
had  little  opportunity  to  make  his  own  observations, 
and  has  had  no  experience.  The  work  of  the  teacher 
is  to  give  the  child  the  benefit  of  her  own  experiences 
and  observations.  She  is  presumably  educated  — 
that  is,  she  has  learned  in  the  schools  how  the  journey 
through  life  may  best  be  made.  All  this  learning, 
experience  and  observation  should  now  be  bestowed 
on  the  child,  so  that  he  may  take  no  false  or  unnec- 
essary steps,  and  may  not  go  wrong;  and  if  his  home 
or  his  associates  have  given  him  wrong  directions,  the 
teacher  must  detect  them  and  correct  them  as  speedily 
as  possible.  Perhaps  the  best  way  to  do  this  is  to 
point  out  to  the  child  the  elements  of  success  as  they 
are  exemplified  in  the  lives  of  great  men  and  women. 
The  child  has  a  natural  respect  for  the  names  he 
meets  in  his  textbooks  and  in  the  library  books;  and 
he  will  be  much  interested  in  learning  the  particulars 
of  their  lives.  The  teacher  should  make  a  definite 
search  for  such  factors  in  these  lives  as  led  to  their 


THROUGH  REMOVING  FALSE  IDEAS  111 

success,  and  these  should  be  purposefully  taught  to 
the  pupils. 

Alice  Freeman  Palmer  has  already  been  mentioned 
in  this  book  as  a  very  remarkable  woman.  Her  life, 
written  by  her  husband,  Professor  Palmer,  should  be 
read  by  every  teacher  many  times,  for  her  own  inspi- 
ration as  well  as  for  use  among  the  pupils.  While,  of 
course,  Mrs.  Palmer  had  a  remarkable  personality, 
yet  at  fourteen  there  was  little  to  distinguish  her  from 
hundreds  of  other  girls  of  her  age.  Starting  from  that 
common  basis,  the  girls  of  a  school  will  note  with 
great  interest  the  courage  and  perseverance  she  dis- 
played while  making  her  way  through  college,  her 
heroic  struggle  to  overcome  poor  health  and  poverty, 
her  fidelity  to  every  duty,  and  her  noble  accomplish- 
ments. They  will  note  that  no  luck  was  apparent  in 
her  career.  She  was  made  president  of  Wellesley 
at  twenty-six  because,  as  Disraeli  says,  she  was 
"ready  when  the  opportunity  came."  Many  other 
educated  women  were  living  at  that  time,  but  of  them 
all  Alice  Freeman  was  most  "ready."  Hence  her 
selection,  and  her  subsequent  great  success. 

Then  there  is  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  who  when  a 
young  man,  was  usually  in  his  attic  room  engaged  in 
deep  study  when  his  schoolmates  were  playing;  who 
once  worked  at  a  problem  in  mathematics  from  Friday 
evening  until  Monday  morning,  getting  the  correct 
result  at  last;  whose  customary  working  day  was 
eighteen  hours;  who  when  in  command  of  the  Army 
of  Italy  did  not  average  more  than  two  or  three 
hours  of  sleep  a  night;  who  lived  a  marvelous  career 
because  of  his  knowledge,  his  energy,  his  perseverance. 


REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 


He  maintained  that  his  success  in  war  was  due  to  his 
careful  attention  to  every  detail  of  strategy  and 
tactics,  so  as  to  be  ready  for  any  emergency  that 
might  occur.  In  other  words,  he  succeeded  because 
of  his  intelligent  use  of  the  common  qualities  that 
should  be  found  in  the  make-up  of  all  young  men. 

Henry  Kirke  White  learned  Greek  while  walking  to 
and  from  a  lawyer's  office  in  which  he  was  employed. 
There  was  no  particular  genius  about  this  perform- 
ance —  simply  an  intelligent  use  of  spare  moments, 
of  which  many  people  have  a  large  number. 

George  Washington  showed  by  his  career  in  the 
French  and  Indian  War  that  he  was  the  best  qualified 
man  to  command  the  Continental  Army  when  the 
war  began  in  1775;  so  there  was  no  particular  luck 
in  his  selection  by  the  Continental  Congress.  In 
1789  there  was  no  question  that  the  ablest  man  in 
the  country  to  take  the  helm  was  Washington,  and 
he  was  elected  president.  There  was  little  of  the 
brilliant  genius  in  him  —  only  the  world-old  plain 
qualities  of  fine  manhood. 

History  is  full  of  examples  that  prove  conclusively 
that  "every  man  is  the  architect  of  his  own  fortune"; 
that  "fools  prate  of  luck";  that  there  is  nothing 
mysterious  about  success;  that  there  are  few  chances 
in  success;  and  that  life  presents  a  "fair  field  and 
no  favors." 

Neighborhood  biography  furnishes  interesting  ex- 
amples for  the  teacher  to  use.  In  all  communities 
there  are  persons  more  or  less  prominent  locally  or  in 
the  county  or  state.  These  men  and  women  are 
known  to  the  children,  either  personally  or  by  name. 


THROUGH  REMOVING  FALSE  IDEAS  113 

The  teacher  should  become  familiar  with  the  par- 
ticulars of  their  lives,  and  should  point  out  to  the 
pupils  how  their  success  was  founded  on  the  funda- 
mental virtues  that  may  be  acquired  by  all. 

By  such  a  course  the  teacher  can  do  a  world  of 
good  in  imbuing  her  children  with  correct  principles, 
thereby  expelling  from  their  minds  false  ideas.  It  is 
more  important  that  a  pupil  be  ambitious  than  that 
he  be  proficient  in  geography.  It  is  more  necessary 
for  him  to  have  courage  than  a  knowledge  of  gram- 
mar. Indeed,  proficiency  in  studies  is  only  a  means 
to  aid  the  ambitious  young  man  or  woman  to  advance 
rapidly  and  achieve  great  things.  It  has  little  value 
as  an  end. 

If  the  glory  of  a  school  is  in  the  kind  of  boys  and 
girls  it  produces,  then  a  teacher's  supreme  object 
should  be  to  instill  in  them  correct  principles  of  life, 
after  which  they  may  be  left  to  make  their  own 
careers  with  perfect  assurance  that  they  will  become 
useful  men  and  women. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
REACHING    THE    CHILDREN    THROUGH   ALLEGORY 

Allegory  dwells  in  a  transparent  palace.  —  LEMIERRE. 

HAMILTON  WRIGHT  MABIE  says:  "A  man  is  spe- 
cially and  divinely  fortunate,  not  when  his  conditions 
are  easy,  but  when  they  evoke  the  very  best  that  is 
in  him.'* 

Children  who  cannot  thoroughly  grasp  the  impli- 
cations of  such  a  sentiment  can  see  them  more  plainly 
when  they  are  put  in  the  form  of  a  story.  The 
following  is  not  a  complete  likeness,  but  it  appeals 
to  children,  especially  to  such  as  live  among  the  hills 
or  mountains: 

Every  boy  and  girl  is  going  up  the  side  of  a  moun- 
tain at  the  top  of  which  is  the  place  called  success. 
There  are  many  paths,  some  quite  different  from 
others.  Here  is  one  —  a  broad,  macadamized  road, 
going  along  at  a  beautiful  grade,  with  fine  curves; 
and  lo!  here  is  a  young  man  going  up  in  an  automo- 
bile! How  rapidly  he  travels,  with  no  exertion  on 
his  part.  He  is  wafted  up,  and  the  whole  trip  is  a 
pleasure. 

Here  is  another  road,  also  a  good  one,  but  not 
made  of  stone.  The  youth  is  driving  up  with  a  horse 
and  buggy  —  not  so  fast  as  in  an  automobile,  but 


THROUGH  ALLEGORY  115 

still  going  at  a  good  pace.  He  sits  back  enjoying  the 
landscape,  and  looking  with  a  smile  at  us  who  are 
trudging  along  on  foot. 

Now  we  examine  more  closely  our  own  road.  It  is 
not  a  road,  only  a  path.  We  go  along  a  steep  ascent. 
Then  we  come  to  a  rock,  and  after  much  effort 
remove  it.  Soon  we  come  to  another,  which  our  best 
efforts  cannot  move,  so  we  climb  over  it,  bruising 
our  hands  and  knees.  Oh,  how  tired  we  are!  We 
rest  a  little  while,  and  then  look  ahead.  The  path 
is  not  clear.  There  is  in  the  way  the  largest  rock  we 
have  yet  encountered.  Surely  we  cannot  remove  it, 
neither  can  we  climb  over  it.  Shall  we  then  sit 
down  and  cry?  No,  indeed.  Let  us  go  forward, 
and  take  a  closer  look  at  it.  Why,  here  is  a  way 
around  it  that  we  couldn't  see  until  we  were  almost 
against  it.  Truly  this  is  not  so  hard  a  place  as  the 
other  was.  We  have  really  not  thus  far  met  with 
anything  that  we  could  not  surmount  in  some  way. 
What  is  this  on  ahead?  Oh,  merely  some  loose  stones 
and  a  few  thorns  that  grow  across  the  path.  On  we 
go.  We  are  gaining  in  strength,  we  are  gaining  in 
courage,  we  have  confidence  that  we  can  in  some  way 
overcome  any  obstacle  we  meet  because  we  have 
learned  how  to  approach  it.  By  and  by  we  reach  the 
summit ! 

Now  let  us  compare  ourselves  with  the  other  two 
young  men.  Have  they  gained  any  strength  through 
their  trip  up  the  mountain?  Have  they  gained  any 
courage?  Any  ability  to  overcome  obstacles?  Have 
they  experienced  the  joy  of  surmounting  what  seemed 
insurmountable?  No.  Their  single  advantage  (?) 


116  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

was  that  they  had  a  pleasant  journey  and  did  not 
need  to  soil  their  hands  and  clothes! 

Let  no  poor  boy  envy  the  well-to-do.  He  is  by 
force  of  circumstances  compelled  to  take  the  rough 
and  rocky  path  which  he  would  not  himself  choose, 
rather  than  the  easy  path,  which  wealth  chooses  for 
its  children.  Hence  the  poor  boy  gains  the  strength 
that  the  rich  boy  misses.  The  poor  boy  gets  the 
practice  in  the  qualities  of  manhood  that  the  rich  boy 
cannot  experience.  The  poor  boy  becomes  his  own 
master,  the  rich  boy  is  carried  along  by  somebody 
else.  All  through  life  it  is  the  hard  things  that 
count  for  something,  the  easy  things  that  count  for 
little. 

A  vessel  on  the  Saguenay  River  was  once  crossing 
a  bay,  headed  straight  for  what  seemed  a  solid  cliff. 
As  she  approached  the  cliff,  the  passengers  speculated 
as  to  where  the  vessel  would  find  its  entrance.  But 
no  sign  of  an  entrance  could  be  seen  until  she  was 
within  a  stone's  throw  of  the  cliff.  Then  a  sudden 
turn  showed  an  opening  through  which  she  sailed 
calmly  on  into  the  waters  beyond. 

So  it  is  in  life.  Even  the  most  courageous  person 
sometimes  comes  to  a  point  where  there  is  a  rock 
ahead  which  he  seems  unable  to  scale;  but  as  he 
draws  nearer  he  finds  either  that  the  rock  is  not  as 
large  as  it  seemed  and  can  be  scaled,  or  there  is  some 
way  of  rolling  it  away  or  passing  around  it. 

Many  boys  and  girls  are  deterred  from  aiming  for 
a  higher  education  because  they  are  poor,  or  because 
they  live  in  a  remote  part  of  the  state,  or  for  some 
other  reason.  The  difficulties  in  the  way  seem 


THROUGH  ALLEGORY  117 

insurmountable.  But  the  life  of  Mrs.  Palmer  and  of 
hundreds  of  others  prove  that  the  rocks  seem  bigger 
than  they  really  are,  and  that  they  may  be  sur- 
mounted if  the  youth  will  but  approach  them  with  a 
stout  heart  and  a  resolute  will! 


CHAPTER  XIX 
REACHING   THE  CHILDREN   THROUGH   TACT 

A  handful  of  common  sense  is  worth  a  bushel  of  learning. 

—  OLD  PROVERB. 

THE  word  tact  means  touch.  We  say  a  person  has 
tact  when  he  knows  how  to  handle  men  and  situa- 
tions. The  citizen  has  tact  when,  at  a  public  meeting, 
he  allays  strong  feeling  between  two  persons  by  means 
of  quieting  remarks.  Some  people  have  tact  in  hand- 
ling horses.  Henry  Ward  Beecher  had  tact  in  control- 
ling audiences.  Some  parents  have  tact  in  governing 
their  children. 

In  its  last  analysis  tact  is  nothing  more  than  good 
judgment;  and  just  as  the  power  of  judgment  may 
be  developed,  so  tact  may  be  cultivated.  Those  who 
have  little  to  start  with  can  by  persistent  attention 
gain  more  and  more  of  that  quality  without  which 
much  accomplishment  is  hardly  possible. 

Many  teachers  who  are  now  conspicuously  success- 
ful had  a  hard  time  to  control  their  pupils  during 
their  first  years  of  teaching;  and  if  they  were  asked 
wherein  lay  their  weakness  they  would  doubtless 
reply,  "I  did  not  know  how  to  handle  pupils.  I  did 
not  use  good  judgment  in  my  relations  with  them 
and  in  my  relations  with  their  parents."  In  other 
words,  they  lacked  tact. 


THROUGH   TACT  119 


Another  word  for  tact  is  the  modern  word  adjust- 
ment. When  an  organism  fits  into  its  environment 
at  all  points  it  is  said  to  be  completely  adjusted. 
When  the  teacher  is  properly  in  touch  with  the  chil- 
dren there  is  perfect  adjustment.  When  she  is  "out 
of  touch"  with  any  situation,  there  is  necessarily 
more  or  less  discord. 

Perhaps  the  best  illustration  of  the  possession  of 
tact  in  American  history  is  found  in  Benjamin 
Franklin.  Of  him  the  historian  Bancroft  says,  "He 
never  spoke  a  word  too  soon;  he  never  spoke  a  word 
too  late;  he  never  failed  to  speak  the  right  word  in 
the  right  place." 

Children  can  never  be  permanently  reached  by 
false  alarms.  After  a  boy  has  been  frightened  into 
obedience  a  number  of  times  by  the  assurance  that 
a  bear  in  the  woods  will  eat  him  up  if  he  does  not 
obey,  he  will  naturally  learn  in  time  that  the  speaker 
is  lying;  and  a  continuation  of  that  policy  will  soon 
render  the  child  almost  uncontrollable.  The  intelli- 
gent parent  will  never  employ  such  tactless  and  ill- 
advised  methods  of  securing  submission. 

Teachers  are  sometimes  tactless  in  "seeing  too 
much."  Whenever  a  child  moves,  the  eye  of  the 
teacher  is  on  him.  When  he  seeks  for  something  in 
his  desk  she  wants  to  know  what  he  is  looking  for. 
When  he  is  out  of  sight  for  a  minute  she  asks  him 
what  he  was  doing.  In  other  words,  she  feels  that 
she  must  have  knowledge  of  everything  that  goes  on 
while  she  is  in  charge  of  the  children.  This  leads  to 
an  almost  irresistible  desire  on  the  part  of  the  pupils 
to  do  as  many  things  as  possible  that  she  cannot 


120  REACHING   THE  CHILDREN 

discover;  and  there  is  often  more  downright  dis- 
honesty engendered  by  a  teacher  of  this  description 
than  by  one  who  has  better  tact  in  seeing  things. 

A  boy  of  twelve  in  the  seventh  grade  had  for  some 
time  been  hard  to  manage.  After  several  private 
conversations  the  principal  was  gradually  getting  him 
to  see  the  error  of  his  ways;  and  one  day  the  boy 
agreed  to  try  for  one  week  so  to  conduct  himself 
that  he  would  not  be  sent  to  the  office.  Four  days 
passed,  and  the  boy  was  not  heard  from  by  the  prin- 
cipal; but  on  the  fifth  day  he  came  to  the  office,  his 
temper  evidently  aroused.  The  principal  said,  "Well, 
Jack,  I  am  sorry  you  couldn't  hold  out  one  day 
longer."  "Mr.  Blank,"  said  the  boy  with  much 
feeling,  "I  was  good  on  Monday,  Tuesday,  Wednes- 
day, and  Thursday,  and  the  teacher  never  said  a 
word.  This  morning  I  turned  round  to  find  where 
the  lesson  was,  and  at  once  the  teacher  sent  me 
down.  Do  you  think  that  was  fair?':  And  the  prin- 
cipal said  impulsively,  "No,  I  don't." 

Here  was  a  sad  example  of  lack  of  tact.  That 
teacher  spoiled  everything.  She  could  never  do  any- 
thing with  the  boy  after  that.  She  should  not  have 
noticed  his  turning  round,  even  if  it  was  against 
her  regulations.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  she  had 
said  to  him  on  Monday  afternoon,  'Well,  you  got 
through  today  all  right,"  and  on  Tuesday  afternoon, 
"Another  good  day,"  and  Wednesday,  'Three  good 
ones,"  and  on  Thursday,  "Only  one  more,"  and  had 
overlooked  the  trifling  offence  of  turning  around,  the 
boy  would  have  come  to  the  office  on  Friday  after- 
noon in  triumph.  The  few  words  of  tactful  encour- 


THROUGH  TACT  121 


agement,  offered  daily,  would  have  given  him  renewed 
determination;  would  have  stimulated  his  purpose 
to  make  a  perfect  record  for  one  week;  and  this 
victory  would  have  gone  very  far  to  make  his  good 
conduct  permanent.  But  the  teacher  not  only  failed 
to  assist  his  efforts  from  day  to  day  by  an  approving 
word,  but  took  the  first  occasion  to  demolish  the  char- 
acter structure  he  was  gradually  building  up  unaided. 

In  a  boys'  boarding  school  during  assembly  exer- 
cises one  morning  some  one  stepped  on  a  match  and 
it  ignited  with  a  loud  report.  The  teacher  in  charge 
said,  "There  is  never  any  telling  what  you  boys  will 
do  in  the  way  of  disorder.  I  suppose  the  next  thing 
will  be  for  you  to  fill  your  pockets  with  match  heads 
and  scatter  them  all  over  the  floor!"  None  of  the 
students  had  thought  of  doing  anything  of  the  kind 
until  the  teacher  suggested  it,  but  they  promptly 
acted  upon  his  idea;  and  in  a  few  days  the  explosion 
of  match  heads  made  all  semblance  of  order  impossible. 

The  principal  was  then  called  in.  He  announced  to 
the  students  that  the  following  week  he  would  grant  a 
holiday  so  as  to  give  all  an  opportunity  to  attend  the 
county  fair  a  few  miles  away.  "But,"  he  continued, 
"let  us  have  no  more  match  heads";  and  order  was 
at  once  restored. 

A  very  considerable  proportion  of  school  difficulties 
that  come  up  for  decision  to  the  State  Commissioner 
of  Education  is  caused  by  the  fact  that  somebody 
somewhere  failed  to  exercise  good  judgment.  Such 
cases  as  the  refusal  of  a  foreign  child  to  pledge 
allegiance  to  the  American  flag,  or  refusal  of  parents 
to  permit  a  child  to  attend  religious  exercises  at  the 


REACHING   THE  CHILDREN 


opening  of  school,  can  be  quietly  handled  by  a  tactful 
teacher  so  that  no  unpleasant  publicity  will  arise. 
When  it  is  not  necessary  to  bring  things  to  an  issue, 
a  teacher  is  foolish  to  invite  trouble. 

Reaching  so-called  bad  boys  is  more  a  matter  of 
tact  than  of  intelligence  or  of  learning.  By  means  of 
tact  the  teacher  will  avoid  arousing  their  evil  tenden- 
cies. She  will  not  punish  them  in  such  a  way  as  to 
cause  excessive  resentment.  She  will  give  them 
enough  interesting  work  to  permit  them  to  give  vent 
to  their  energies.  She  will  fraternize  with  them, 
take  an  interest  in  their  sports,  be  present  at  their 
match  games,  help  them  get  up  plays,  and  in  many 
other  ways  skilfully  appeal  to  the  better  side  of  their 
natures  without  saying  anything  about  it.  The  favorite 
teacher  in  a  high  school  is  nearly  always  the  one  who 
plays  tennis  with  the  pupils,  directs  their  dramatics, 
is  a  member  of  the  "Camp-fire  Girls"  or  "Boy 
Scouts,"  is  enthusiastic  at  the  baseball  and  basket 
ball  games,  dances  with  them  at  their  entertainments, 
and  always  has  time  to  discuss  with  them  matters  in 
which  they  are  interested.  Such  a  teacher  reaches 
more  pupils  than  do  ten  others  whose  sole  interest  is 
in  the  subjects  they  teach.  She  has  ten  points  of 
adjustment  where  the  others  have  but  one,  and  that 
of  uncertain  fit. 

The  teacher  should  first  of  all  be  a  human  being. 
She  should  be  alive  to  the  joys  and  sorrows  that 
animate  all  children.  As  she  contemplates  their 
imperfections  she  should  always  think  of  her  own  also; 
and  she  should  constantly  strive  to  cultivate  the  habit 
of  Franklin,  to  do  the  right  thing  at  the  right  time. 


CHAPTER  XX 
REACHING  THE  CHILDREN   THROUGH  ENTHUSIASM 

There  is  no  teaching  until  the  pupil  is  brought  in  the  same  state 
or  principle  in  which  you  are;  a  transfusion  takes  place;  he  is  you, 
and  you  are  he;  there  is  a  teaching;  and  by  no  unfriendly  chance  or 
bad  company  can  he  ever  quite  lose  the  benefit.  —  EMERSON. 

"It  is  faith  in  something  and  enthusiasm  for  something  that  makes 
a  life  worth  looking  at."  —  HOLMES. 

"Nothing  great  was  ever  accomplished  without  enthusiasm." 

—  EMERSON. 

No  teacher  ever  reached  her  pupils  unless  she  pos- 
sessed and  put  into  her  work  some  of  that  divine 
element  called  enthusiasm.  This  word  is  derived  from 
the  Greek  and  literally  means  "God  in  us."  It  was 
thought  by  the  Greeks  that  when  the  eye  of  the 
poet  or  the  orator  rolled  "in  a  fine  frenzy,"  he  was 
possessed  of  a  god;  and  it  is  not  far  wrong  for  us 
to  feel  that  a  benignant  spirit  shines  through  the 
countenance  of  the  enthusiastic  man. 

Enthusiasm  has  also  been  compared  to  fire,  by 
means  of  which  other  fires  are  kindled.  It  has  been 
called  a  contagious  quality  of  the  mind  that  is  more 
catching  than  measles.  There  are  other  likenesses 
that  have  been  used.  However  we  think  of  this 
quality,  the  teacher  cannot  do  without  it  if  she  is 
to  make  the  most  of  her  opportunities. 


124  REACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

In  a  high  school  or  college,  students  are  sometimes 
for  one  period  under  a  teacher  who  goes  through  her 
work  as  a  matter  of  mere  routine.  The  students  may 
do  their  work  fairly  well,  but  there  is  no  deep  interest. 
No  permanent  love  for  the  subject  is  likely  to  be 
engendered  in  any  of  them.  The  next  period  these 
same  students  meet  a  teacher  who  is  full  of  inspira- 
tion. The  very  air  is  charged  with  electricity.  The 
dullness  of  the  preceding  recitation  gives  way  to  life 
and  energy.  It  does  not  seem  to  be  the  same  student 
body;  yet  there  has  only  been  a  change  of  teacher. 

It  is  this  enthusiasm  that  rouses  the  dull  mind  from 
its  lethargy.  The  live  teacher  is  continually  "starting 
something,"  and  that  is  very  likely  to  "start  some- 
body." The  pupils  catch  the  teacher's  spirit.  If  her 
mind  is  aglow  with  enthusiasm  it  casts  a  light  on  a 
subject  otherwise  dull.  If  the  teacher  feels  that  her 
subject  is  of  great  importance,  that  it  contains  most 
fruitful  ideas,  and  that  she  wants  her  pupils  to  gain 
the  benefit  and  pleasure  of  these  ideas,  she  will  put 
her  soul  into  her  teaching,  and  the  breath  of  life  will 
cause  the  instruction  to  glow  with  interest. 

Enthusiasm  in  teaching  demands  a  love  of  children 
and  a  consequent  desire  to  do  them  good.  Aversion 
to  children  is  utterly  inconsistent  with  enthusiasm. 
It  is  not  possible  for  a  teacher  to  put  her  soul  into 
any  instruction  of  pupils  she  dislikes.  Of  course  such 
a  teacher  has  no  proper  place  in  the  schoolroom;  but 
unfortunately  she  is  sometimes  improperly  there. 

Enthusiasm  in  a  subject  demands  a  love  for  it. 
No  teacher  can  do  much  with  a  subject  she  does  not 
like.  This  is  again  an  attitude  inconsistent  with  the 


THROUGH  ENTHUSIASM  125 

best  teaching.  Hence  the  need  of  departmental 
work  above  the  fifth  or  sixth  grades,  so  that  teachers 
may  have  only  such  subjects  as  they  like  best. 

Enthusiasm  requires  scholarship.  The  well  known 
instance  of  Dr.  Thomas  Arnold  preparing  himself 
every  evening  for  teaching  his  class  in  beginning  Latin 
is  an  instance  in  point.  To  teach  with  power  there 
must  be  that  confidence  and  certainty  that  comes  only 
from  broad  and  clear  knowledge.  The  teacher  can 
never  make  her  pupils  enthusiastic  during  a  recitation 
if  her  own  face  is  buried  in  the  textbook;  but  if  she 
can  stand  before  the  class  without  any  book  at  all, 
and  if  possible  without  any  notes,  her  very  attitude 
will  tend  toward  interest  and  enthusiasm. 

Enthusiasm  is  aided  by  means  of  good  health. 
There  are  some  teachers  of  frail  bodies  who  are  almost 
consumed  by  their  enthusiasm;  and  there  are  others 
of  fine  physique  whose  teaching  is  lifeless.  But  the 
true  teacher  is  more  apt  to  be  enthusiastic  if  she  is 
feeling  well  than  if  she  is  worn  out.  Some  superin- 
tendents do  not  seem  to  take  account  of  this  fact,  and 
they  make  so  many  requirements  of  their  teachers  in 
the  way  of  records,  reports,  meetings  and  conferences 
of  all  kinds,  that  the  teachers  are  too  tired  when 
they  reach  school  in  the  morning  to  give  their  best 
selves  to  the  work.  Teachers  have  a  duty  toward 
their  class  in  refraining  from  excessive  work  or  social 
diversions;  in  seeing  to  it  that  they  begin  the  day 
fresh  and  bright.  The  fagged  out  mind  must  be 
driven.  Whatever  enthusiasm  is  aroused  is  thus  the 
result  of  force  and  not  of  natural  spontaneity.  It  is  un- 
healthy, and  therefore  likely  to  lead  to  ruin  in  the  end. 


126  REACHING   THE  CHILDREN 

Enthusiasm  is  promoted  by  pleasant  living  condi- 
tions. It  is  far  better  for  a  teacher  to  pay  a  higher 
sum  for  a  room  and  board  in  a  home  she  likes,  than 
to  pay  a  dollar  a  week  less  in  a  home  she  does  not 
like.  If  her  room  is  uncomfortably  cold  during  the 
winter,  her  enthusiasm  is  very  likely  to  be  chilled. 
If  she  does  not  get  tasteful  and  nourishing  food,  she 
cannot  proceed  with  the  energy  that  arises  out  of 
properly  satisfied  physical  conditions.  If  the  family 
life  is  discordant,  or  the  children  are  annoying,  the 
teacher  cannot  maintain  a  serene  spirit.  Hence  when 
a  teacher  inquires  for  board,  she  should  take  great 
care  to  examine  into  conditions  before  she  chooses. 
It  is  sometimes  wise  to  engage  board  temporarily, 
and  if  necessary  make  a  change  afterwards,  even  if  it 
leads  to  estrangement  with  the  family.  It  is  easier  to 
bear  this  criticism  than  a  year's  discomfort. 

Enthusiasm  is  promoted  by  attendance  at  a  summer 
school  for  teachers.  Usually  the  school  year  closes 
about  June  20,  and  opens  September  10.  The  summer 
vacation  is  therefore  from  ten  to  twelve  weeks  long. 
Summer  school  terms  are  usually  five  or  six  weeks  in 
length.  Therefore  a  teacher  may  attend  a  summer 
school  for  six  weeks,  and  yet  have  from  four  to  six 
weeks  at  her  disposal  for  rest  and  recreation. 

Things  educational  are  moving  so  rapidly  these  days 
that  the  teacher  who  does  not  improve  herself  falls 
behind.  School  work  is  viewed  from  a  totally  differ- 
ent aspect  from  what  it  was  even  ten  years  ago.  The 
standard  of  teaching  required  in  good  schools  has 
risen  rapidly  since  that  time.  Hence  it  behooves  even 
the  good  teacher  to  get  the  new  viewpoint;  to  learn 


THROUGH  ENTHUSIASM  127 

to  see  her  work  from  a  different  angle;  to  seek  the 
new  elements  that  educational  progress  is  introducing. 
This  in  itself  will  give  the  teacher  a  new  interest  in 
her  work,  and  tend  to  maintain  her  enthusiasm. 

But  the  finest  influence  of  the  summer  school  is  in 
its  spirit.  This  is  hard  to  define.  Those  who  have 
experienced  it  come  back  to  their  work  with  a  "some- 
thing" they  never  had  before.  It  is  not  so  much  the 
instruction  they  have  received  as  the  air  they  have 
breathed  that  gives  them  the  glow  of  enthusiasm,  as 
they  say,  "Oh,  it  was  fine!" 

It  is  not  intended  that  teachers  should  take  so 
many  courses  that  the  summer  school  means  work 
only.  Two  courses  a  day  are  sufficient.  There  is 
then  time  for  rest,  for  recreation,  and  for  social  life. 
Thus  the  summer  school  may  be  a  fine  vacation,  with 
just  enough  work  to  give  the  mind  a  valuable  founda- 
tion for  creative  thinking.  Those  who  have  observed 
this  summer  school  movement  for  a  number  of  years 
will  agree  that  its  finest  work  is  the  spreading  of 
enthusiasm  among  teachers,  who  in  turn  communicate 
it  to  their  pupils,  and  thus  reach  them. 

The  joy  that  comes  from  the  enthusiastic  pursuit 
of  one's  vocation  is  one  of  the  greatest  blessings  of 
life.  ;<It  blesseth  him  that  gives  and  him  that  takes." 
To  such  a  person  life  is  one  long  happy  day.  Its 
clouds  but  form  the  background  for  the  golden  gleams 
of  the  sunlight.  This  life  is  possible  to  the  teacher  who 
puts  her  soul  into  her  work,  and  her  influence  for  good 
in  the  lives  of  her  pupils  is  immeasurable. 


UNIVEESITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY, 

BERKELEY 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 

Books  not  returned  on  time  are  subject  to  a  fine  of 
50c  per  volume  after  the  third  day  overdue,  increasing 
to  $1.00  per  volume  after  the  sixth  day.  Books  not  in 
demand  may  be  renewed  if  application  is  made  before 
expiration  of  loan  period. 


NOV 


YA  06152 


355230 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CAUFORNIA  LIBRARY 


